Thundercats! Ho!
by LionJustice
Summary: Continuation of my fic 'The Fall of Thundera'. A retelling of Thundercats 2011. A few things will stay the same as many others won't...(Meant to be updated weekly every Saturday) R
1. Ramlak Rising

Hi everyone, and late Happy New Year, from LionJustice! Sorry I couldn't update sooner with any story but life always gets in the middle of things. Anyway, I don't want to bore you all babbling about and I'll just mention a little change of plans since I'm not continuing with the sequel of _'Reaching out for you'_ as it was planned from the start (for those who are waiting for that one, don't worry! It will exist.) but with the continuation of my retelling of Thundercats 2011 Season 1. For new readers I recommend you to read my fic _'The Fall of thundera' _since that's where this story starts…Enough for now, hope you like it.

**YOU'RE WARNED BY NOW**. English isn't my birth language so this may have some grammatical errors. It's worth to say that first I had to write the story and then translate it. A process I'll try to accomplish weekly. (I'll be posting this on all my fics to remind you all I'm not a born English speaker.)

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Several hours after the unexpected invasion of the lizard army and even more unexpected treason from their fellow feline, the general Grune, the picture was still hard to believe for the survivors of the fallen kingdom. The streets were empty and there was no building that was left intact. Only some of the enemy troops stayed behind scavenging for any goods they could find…they were so concentrated on the task that didn't even pay attention to the sad and yet tender lullaby that whispered through the air.

"Hey, Kit!" A little wildcat called from the floor.

The melody stopped. "Uh?"

"Come on, there's nothing left here!" The boy said to his sister that was sitting on a white stone pillar.

"Alright, next spot we look I'll give you a paw." The girl smiled putting her flute on her pouch.

"Sure thing, let's go." Her brother agreed and both ran to the next stop.

At the remains of the palace of the royal family, three cats were holding a funeral pyre to the late King Claudus at the base of a broken statue. The young cleric sprayed something over the fire turning it of a blue color as a sign of purifications and the youngest prince held his sword between the flames till it was hot red and preceded graving the Thundercats' symbol in the statue's feet in his father's memory.

"Rest now to raise again, father." The lion says solemnly.

"May your next life show you peace." His brother said in the same voice.

Next to the cheetah cleric, Pumyra's sorrowful eyes stayed focused on the body of the late king ubtil hearing the princes' words and they shut tightly.

To mourn his father was the last thing the young lion imagined himself doing at this moment in his life. It made him realize how things were like now. And they were bad…

Down town, the lizards left no home unrevised taking anything of value they could find and took it to their vehicles. Behind one of their tanks a pair of kittens sneaked in and looked into the big suitcases. Their faces shone with joy having found a whole change of clothes for the two of them and ran away without being seen.

Once the flames were consumed and the body reduced to ashes Lord Lion-o spoke up. "We should move out while the lizard's trail is still fresh. Mum-Ra's lair is probably past the Sand Sea, so we have quite a journey ahead of us."

To the mention of the name, the other cats looked up to their new King. One of them did not try to hide her questioning. "Mum-Ra?" Cheetara objected. "Jaga told us to fist seek out the Book of Omens. Those were my teacher's last words to us." The last part ending almost in a whisper.

"The book can wait. It has for centuries." Lion-O returned sharply.

"But only the book can provide us answers, Lion-O…" Tygra claimed to the anger of his brother who raised his voice to him.

"Answers? I already know who destroyed our city, who killed our King. What other _answers_ do you need? If either of us were on that funeral pyre, father would've already buried that demon! I intend to do him the same justice." Lion-o growled.

The rest of the cats just looked at him in silence, only the Cheetah commented. "You're angry, Lion-O." Her voice calm trying to make him see his precipitation.

"I should hope I'm not the only one!" The lion shot back, now the anger that sounded in his voice shown in his face as well.

Pumyra kept staring at her king intently thinking to herself. She could tell he wasn't the only one, she shared almost the same of what he was feeling but looking at the atmosphere of the situation and that there was probably nothing she could do to change it, given the others tried with no results; she remained silent.

Lion-O then got notice of the girl staring at him, and added in a lower voice to the others while walking toward her. "We're going after Mum-Ra, and that's a command."

"Can you walk?" He asked the puma dryly. She nodded with her head. "Then come with me." Walking past her and away.

Pumyra wondered about the sudden change of behavior from him. Till now she thought the young lion was like anything but this, however, that only proved her she didn't know that much about him and besides, how could she not expect such a switch of personality after everything that's happen 'in just one night'. She started walking after him, Tygra and Cheetara exchanged looks showing the same concern till they heard Lion-O speak to them.

"Now that the lizards are gone let's go and search for anything we might need for our journey. And hurry up." And he was out with the puma girl and his pet close behind him.

The others saw they could not persuaded him to change his mind about Mum-Ra, and there was nothing they could do but what asked by their king. "I'll go to the cleric's quarters and see if I can find some information or maps that can help us."

Tygra nodded. "I'll head over here. We'll meet up here later." And the two parted ways as the tiger went back into the palace.

Snarf and Pumyra stood in front of a door, from the other side of it, Lion-o came out now wearing a light blue armor covering his chest and hips with a single shoulder plate on the right side and shin guards that served to cover and protect his knees…also, the Gauntlet of Omens attached to his belt. "Here, put this on." He said and handed the female cat a cloak and a hood and put his own over his shoulders.

With the lizard army gone it was save to walk the streets now. Lion-O headed to the entrance of the city to meet with the others but suddenly he stop hearing the puma's steps behind him and turned to see her moving her head in various directions while her eyes searched the area. The girl finally walked over to a pile of concrete and knelt down to take a closer look.

The lion approached and stood not very far behind her and before he could ask she spoke. "What do you think happened to him?" Her king stood in silence. "What could've happen to Lynx-O…" Her voice flat looking at the stains of blood on the broken stone. She knew is was from him…they were in the same spot of the city where they last saw the general.

Lion-O wondered if she was actually waiting for an answer and so waited before saying anything. The last he knew of Lynx-O was that he was seriously injured with little chance to survive, thought…

"At least there's no sign he's body is still around here…" Pumyra cut the silence.

Without noticing himself, a tiny smile draw on the lion's face. She was right, if the lynx's body wasn't there, there was still a chance that he's survived. The Thundercats' army wasn't known for giving up easily after all. The female cat got back on her feet and faced him. "Let's keep going, _Your Majesty_."

Those two words again, Lion-O thought. The words that proved the relationship between them, if there was any, had completely changed. Anyhow, it wasn't the time to think about that. He knew the rules have certainly changed now and he would have to play a whole new role but, was he ready to accomplish it like his father did before him?

Back at the entrance Tygra stood waiting for the others to get back. Now sporting a new different outfit than before which consisted on a dark green battle armor to go better with his new laser gun. Right then only Cheetara showed up carrying a bag on her back.

"You were in luck, I see." The tiger pointed.

His friend closed her eyes and replayed on a soft voice. "Only half the luck I hoped." Now looking at him. "The lizards also entered the enclosure. They took everything they could from the library, every book, every map…they left nothing." Frustration coming from her voice. "Luckily they did not take all of the food and I got us some supplies."

"What about you?" The cleric asked.

Tygra shook his head. "Nothing." Bitterly. "Just like you, those reptiles swept the whole place."

Soon after, Lion-O and the others returned to the meeting spot and handed a pair of cloaks to them too. Now the cats headed outside of the kingdom's ruins. The now king looked back for the last time and promised to himself he would make Mum-Ra pay for all he has done.

After a while walking, on one side of the road, two cubs were inspecting the remains of a destroyed vehicle. "You sure you didn't leave it behind?" The cub girl questioned her brother, who lifted his head from his concentration.

"Of course I have it, sis." Showing her a scroll he took out of his many pockets. "Don't worry about a thing. No matter how long it takes us, we'll find El-Dara, you'll see."

"Oh, I'm not worried. I just don't want you to get us lost." The little girl joked and both kittens got back to search for supplies for their own journey.

It seemed there wasn't much of use for them but things were not so bad as they saw a group of cats heading their direction, and their hopes raised when they recognized two the them from the group.

"Kat, look." Willykit shouted as both got closet o the wanderers. "It's the princes, Lion-O and Tygra."

The two walked in front of the serious lion. "Names are Willykat and Kit. We thought we were the only cats left." The lion just walked past them not paying attention to the cubs.

The Willies looked at one another but didn't give up easily. Willykit caught up with Lion-O with her brother close behind. "Maybe we can join you until we get to where we're going…El-Dara, the city of treasure."

"Never heard of it." The red haired cat answered with a frown.

The cubs smiled. "Of course not. I've got the only proof." Willykat said showing the scroll to him in hopes he'd agree to let them come with them.

"No."

The little cats stopped walking feeling rejected. "Please." Kit pleaded.

The elder cats stood behind the cubs when Pumyra stepped forward to take a look at the twins. "You two...!" Lion-O and the others turned around to look at her.

"Hey! You're the one that saved us from the lizards!" Kat shouted surprised to recognize her.

"Yeah, we thought we'd never see you again." His sister added with a smile.

Cheetara turned to the puma girl beside her. "You know these two?"

She nodded. "They ran into me a couple of times…the last time I saw them I told them to get out of the city, that it wasn't safe for them."

"She saved us!" Willykit added out loud.

Lion-O rose up his gaze from the little girl to Pumyra, his eyes widened just for a moment. But his face soon narrowed knowing where all that was going.

"Well, they do look like they have no one else." The cleric commented loosely to the young lion.

"We can't just leave them here." Tygra seconded her.

His little brother glared at him seeing him siding with the blonde cat and said. "We're on a mission to avenge father, and you want to play babysitter? They'll have to take care of themselves, Tygra. Now let's go!" And continued walking.

Now was Pumyra's time to glare at the stubborn King. How could he leave a couple of kittens all alone just like that, she thought. Her glare disappeared quickly as she caught sight of the twins going after the lion anyways and started to mew beside him while rubbing their cheeks with their paws…but all they got was another negative.

Still, the female cat showed a little grin at their little unsuccessful but funny attempt to make the lion give in. She felt bad for them, she knew the others did too, and then again those were the king's orders.

After that, the others assumed they could not twist his tail to make him change his mind and reluctantly kept walking leaving the willies to their own luck. But not before the puma went behind them and leaned down to said to them calmly. "Sorry, but it's for your own good." Hoping they could understand that wherever they were going it was going to be dangerous for them she continued after her king.

But all in all this didn't stop the cubs for much time and they started their way carefreely. "Just so you know, we're not following you." Kat said confident.

"_You're_ just walking in front of us." The little girl completed.

And so, all of them undertook their untiring voyage following the trail left by Mum-Ra's forces. For many days the cats travelled with no stop. In just half a day the ruins of Thundera were left behind and no one looked back. Along their way, the Thundercats were surprised by the different reliefs a small part of Third Earth's got to offer. That was the case of the Bottomless Chasm.

"How are we supposed to go across this huge hole?" Willykit asked curiously looking down the chasm.

"We'll have to surround it, let's go." The lion king commanded and the rest followed.

The only time the cats got to rest was after sunset when it was too dark to see where to go. The group stopped at a lake, serving them as a drinking water source. Tygra set the fire while Cheetara went out for a quick scouting detail since she was the fastest. Meanwhile, Pumyra seemed to be the only one to keep an eye on the little ones and founding relief to see they were good at taking care of themselves. They never stayed very far from the others, though.

"Looks like we'll keep going straight ahead from here in the morning." The voice of the cheetah sound next to the other young girl as she got back from the scouting and sat next to her. "It's been four days…how are you feeling?" The blonde cat asked.

The other female cat was taken aback by the question. It was then she recalled it was Cheetara who helped her the most to wrap her left leg and arm in bandages after Lion-O brought her with them. "I'll be fine, thanks for asking." She smiled.

Cheetara smiled back, she could tell the puma was a strong cat. After four days of none stop walking, although still wounded, she seemed to do pretty well. "You know about medicine, am I right?" The cleric said out of the blue.

"How did you figured?" The other young girl asked.

"The way you directed me while attending your wounds…That and they say doctors are the worst patients." The last part with a little of humor in her voice.

Pumyra smiled at her again and then it faded as she caught sight of the young lion resting against a tree with his eyes fixed on the camp fire. "Will he be ok?" She asked dryly hiding her worry about him.

The cheetah girl got a glimpse of their young king and returned to her companion. "I can't tell." And paused. "He's just full of anger right now. Let's wait till it goes away and he can see things clearly." Cheetara then stood on her feet and went to sit on the grass next to the tiger across the camp fire leaving the puma wondering, with things going like they were how long would they have to wait…

As days went by the footage kept changing for the Thundercats. One day they were wandering through a dense jungle which trees covered the sunlight above them, and the next one they walked across a hot red field filled with rocks that came out of the ground like daggers. The longest time they spent on a large desert full of piles of stone resembling mountains.

Even the youngest ones who showed the most will until now were too tired to go on and everyone got under one of the mountains shade. The twins plummeted on the floor breathless. On the other hand, Lion-O kept looking ahead for the next direction to take on their journey but at this point it was useless.

"We can't keep going like this." Pumyra whined starching her tired legs while resting on a rock. The young lion ignoring her words completely.

"We lost the trail, Lion-O." Tygra said trying to make his brother see there was nothing more around them to help them track the lizards.

"And our supplies are dangerously low." Cheetara added indicating the bag she brought with her full of food at the start of the travel was now empty.

But the young king's stubbornness would not let him see the other's needs as he could only think of finally reaching the Sand Sea. "I don't care. We keep moving forward." And walked blindly out of the shade leaving the others behind.

His older brother growing tired of his carelessness and the puma just stared at the lion letting out a heavy sigh. Snarf groaned, and then fell on his belly next to her feet, tired. Then he perked up at the sight before him.

Kit and Kat following his line sight. "What is that?" Kit asked in awe. Lion-o ran back to take look as well.

Beyond the small arch was a golden flowing object. They walked through, and Lion-o smirked as he recognized the sight before him. "Snarf just found the Sand Sea. Mum-Ra's lair must just be on the other side!"

Tygra looked at the rippling golden waves of sand that moved as if it was water. "Do you see a way around it?" he asked, as they walked forward.

The kittens walked to see the strange sight, and then they gasped. "I think I see something better!" Kat's eyes open wide, pointing to a pile of food floating on the sand.

The cats ran to the sand and everyone grabbed each a bite of the food.

"I don't believe it…" The puma girl mused looking shocked at the fruits and meat without noticing the piece of red meat the young lion held before her so she could regain some strength as well. She took the meat and smiled in thanks…it was good to finally see a nice gesture coming from him after all those days.

While everyone was occupied chewing and savoring the delicious meal, Cheetara got everyone's attention. "Hey, anyone else's wondering where all this came from?"

Suddenly, from the north, the sand split as something rose up, and Lion-o and the others were caught in a net carrying them in the air and crashed onto a boat. In front of them was a white and brown mottled Koi-like fishman, who smirked while others like him came near them.

"Quite the catch I say." The fish said.

The Thundercats looked around them to see they were caught by a group of fish people on their pirate ship.

"What's all that racket?" A grumpy, scratchy voice called. "That better be the Ramlak you spineless jellyfish are carrying on about!" From the stairs leading to the lower deck, a while skinned fish came out. This one with one eye closed shut; he had a red beard fringe and a right peg leg. As he walked up, water dripped from his body as he walked closer and looked at the catch. "Another worthless haul…take what the crew doesn't eat of them and turn it into chum!" He said.

A large red fish with a chef's hat and coat smiled and began to rub two knives together, chuckling darkly.

"Whiskers," Lion-o muttered. The fishes grabbed them and pulled them out of the net. The cats lunged at them, but more fishes came carrying harpoons and strange devices that had spears loaded in them. They struggled to free themselves with no success.

The captain approached them before letting his crew do as asked before. "That bait was meant for the beast."

"I am Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats and I order you to release us!" The lion commanded to the fishmen amusement as they started laughing.

"It talks, and it still has some fight in it." The white fishman remarked. "Well Lion-o, Lord of the Thundercats, I am Koineleus Tunar, Captain of this ship…and I order you filleted!" He meant for his crew.

The ship's cook rubbed his knifes once again. "Let's start with the little ones…their meat will be the most deliciously tender!"

The two cubs gasped and shivered in fear. As the fish advanced, the ship suddenly jerked, and they all staggered. That's when from the side, a large green tentacle snaked out from the sand and grabbed a fish swinging him high in the air and dragged him into the Sand Sea.

The fishes cried out in panic but not the captain. A grim yet eager expression on his face. "Ramlak, at long last! My wretched quarry returns!" Now more of the tentacles could be seem coming from beneath the sands.

The tentacles swarmed at them. A fishman ran forward and shot at one of them with his spear, a rope attached to it, and it stabbed into a tentacle. A blue colored liquid came from the wound as if it was the monster's blood, a wailing moan was heard and the tentacle swung up carrying the fish that didn't let go of the spear. As the fish swung in the air the spear fell off the tentacle and fell to the deck along with him. Luckily the spear fell close to the cheetah's feet and caught it.

The cats could do anything but to look at the scared crew running to hide from the creature's attacks. Koineleus Tunar cursing the cowards who dared to flee from the Ramlak without putting a fight. "Come on you filthy maggots! This is the moment we've been waiting for, fight!" He shouted.

The Ramlak was gaining territory as it took over the main mast. Meanwhile, Cheetara and Tygra rubbed the rope around them against the spear cutting them all free but as soon as they all got up they were wrapped by the creature's tentacles, except for Snarf that ran quickly to a hiding spot between the ship's cargo.

Lion-O had his arms free so he pulled his sword out of the claw shield. "_Thundercats! Ho!_" The sword recovered its full size at the word and the cat cut loose from the tentacle with ease, cutting free each of his friends as he landed on his feet to the captain's amazement.

"The food fights better than you!" He bawled scolding his crew and walked over to the Lord of the Thundercats with his own sword in hand to fight along with him.

The other cats also gave fight to the Ramlak gaining space on the battle field making the it hold back its attack and retreat back to the deep of the Sand Sea.

"Run you coward! You can't escape me forever! I'll follow you straight to the flaming pits of Magmel before I give you up!" Koineleus shouted watching the creature disappear beneath the sand.

Lion-O got his group together and stepped forward to face the captain. "Now, what were we talking about before the interruption?"

"I believe we were discussing how we'd fillet you! But had I known you were such fine warriors, I'd of served my first-mate to you on a platter!" The white fish told him with a grin on his face as said first-mate looking shocked. "Listen up fishies, these fine fellows are your new ship-mates. Treat them like your own scaly brothers!" He ordered. "And give the little ones some food."

"Food!" The willies cheered while captain Tunar patted on Lion-O shoulder and leaded him away. The kids hurried after the cook heading to the ship's kitchen.

"Welcome to the crew." Said the first-mate holding a pair of swab-brushes and handing one to the blonde cat.

"Why don't I feel good about this?" She asked jerking an eyebrow.

Leaving the other swab-brush to Pumyra next to her to take. "You're telling me…" Looking at the brush crestfallen.

"What you think about it, Tygra?" Cheetara asked again. "Tygra?" And turned to see the prince leaning on the side with his head held out of the ship and retching.

The puma watched as the other girl went to the tiger's aid, then looked at the swab-brush again and tossed it to a side. She walked across the deck looking around, then up to the main mast and got sight of Lion-O climbing up behind the captain reaching the crow's nest on the top. Her face narrowed, disliking the thought of their king sharing time with a short-tempered and wretched fellow like Tunar. Anyway, she was in no position to argue about it and let out a snort…instead, Pumyra headed inside the ship without being noticed to check on the kids.

"I want to get down of this ship!" Tygra muttered weakly looking at the sand flowing below.

"Don't do that, or you'll get sicker." The cheetah told him helping him to sit on a cask away from the edge of the ship. "Now wait here." She pleaded and grabbed a wooden bucket on her way to the captain's headquarters entrance. That part of the ship was, surprisingly, filled with water. Cheetara sank the bucket just a second in the water and carried some for the prince. "Here, it'll help you to feel better."

Tygra looked at the water that was meant to wash his head and took a good sip of it instead…the female cat stared at him in astonishment and stopped him as soon as possible. "Tygra wait! That water's from captain Koineleus's quarters where he came from earlier."

His eyes almost jumped out of his face as Tygra hurried up to throw up overboard once again. His friend shook her head feeling bad for him. "I hate sailing…" He managed to say before throwing again.

In the crow's nest the captain told Lion-O how his leg got but lost but stolen from him by the Ramlak. Hearing to his words made the lion conscious of the grudge Tunar held against the creature and even more, he felt identified with him as the lion heard how the Ramlak not only took the captain's leg but the fishmen home oasis, a watery paradise somewhere on the Sand Sea and drunk it dry.

"You know what it's like Lion-o? To have everything taken from you and replaced with rage…" The captain commented looking ahead on the telescope.

"A rage that won't go away until the monster that took it all is no more," Lion-o said somberly akin with the feeling…

.

Comments and reviews are appreciated, always regarding the story itself (Any hatred comment dedicated to any reader or subject concerning the Thundercats series will be completely ignored and deleted.) Thanks.


	2. Clear Ahead

The fishmen and their new ship-matessailed through the Sand Sea without mayor difficulties, the sandy waves flowed quietly as the ship soared above them.

"You know Lion-O. We would've sunk the Ramlak long ago, if this crew wasn't filled with insubordinates!" Koineleus said.

"What do you do when they question the course you set?" The lion asked.

The captain's eye fixed on him and replied. "The crew rarely knows what is best for them. Everything you do is for that sorry lot, and they still go soft on ya!" He paused. "When they do, you'll have to sail on, with or without them!"

Lion-O listened to captain Tunar's words intently and stood silent deep in thoughts.

Meanwhile inside the ship the cook made plate after plate with delicious food for the two little kittens; keeping the dinner table constantly full with dishes for them. The twins asking for more with each plate they left empty. The large red fish happy to oblige.

"That's it! Let's put some fat on those hungry bellies." He said as they continue eating the food. "I prefer my dishes a little spicy… how about some seasoning?" He asked. Kit and Kat nodded while chewing on their meat. So engrossed with the food, neither noticed the fishman sprinkling some of the seasoning on them.

Many platters later the Willies finished their meal. The chef acknowledged they were filled enough and started sharpening his cooking blade. "This old chef is tired of cooking…It's his time to eat!" Walking toward them.

Kit then jumped onto the table with a cone topped with a pink swirling cream in her hand. "That's why we made this for you! Looks good huh?" She said grinning.

"Wha-!" Kit stuffed the cone into the chef's mouth, his head tilted back as it turned fiery red.

"You said you love that spicy stuff. So we just used a ton of that!" Kat said. The girl giggling as the chef fell on his back, unable to speak or move from the sheer hotness of the spice overwhelming his mouth.

"Thanks for the food!" The cubs yelled as they left the kitchen.

Turning the corner the two kids ran into the cat that went inside looking for them. "There you are you two…how was the food?" She asked loosely looking over their head as if looking for the cook.

The twins looked at each other cunningly. "Delicious!" Both said.

"Just a little spicy for our taste…" Kit added.

"But not enough for the chef's" Completed her brother mischievously. "Let's go!" The boy bellowed running to the exit. Pumyra followed after them.

By nightfall, the first mate informed the Thundercats that since the cabins were full with water they would have to sleep on deck. The kittens complained at first but Lion-O told them it couldn't be helped so they shrugged it off.

"I don't like the look on those clouds…" Cheetara pointed to the purplish clouds slowly grouping above them in the distance.

"It's probably nothing. Besides, we're already at sea." Their king said dryly.

"And if we end up in the middle of a storm, we already know thanks to _who _we're here." The tiger commented glaring at his brother.

Lion-O glared back and said. "We had no other choice Tygra-"

"Yes, we had it. But you insisted we should search for Mum-Ra's hideout!" Tygra growled.

"Tygra…" The cleric pleaded reaching one hand to his shoulder.

The young lion had it and growled back. "I've already told you. I'm in charge, I set the course we follow." His fists tightened in a ball.

The little ones stared at both cats quarreling, Kit hugging Snarf who also felt uncomfortable in the climax of the situation.

The puma girl got noticed of that and spoke up. "Yelling is not gonna help us. We should all try and sleep."

"Pumyra's right." The blonde female agreed. "We'll reconsider the situation in the morning."

Lion-O stood silent, the captain's words sounded in his mind again. "_Everything you do is for them, and they still go soft on you! When they do, you have to sail on, with or without them_." His eyes narrowed at them and said seriously. "There's nothing to reconsider, I'm not turning back." Standing up from his spot.

"Lion-O, wait." Cheetara called after him but he kept walking without listening.

Everyone looked at him walking away. "Let him go-" Said Tygra.

"What good does to him…to all of us, if we let him go like this?" The cheetah anticipated as she asked him.

The prince looked at her intently seeing her troubled expressing. "Still, he's right about one thing…" He paused reluctantly. "We can't turn back now, can we?"

The Willies looked at each other in agreement with the tiger. The cleric considered for a bit and agreed as well.

"Let's go to sleep." Tygra ordered and the cats got themselves a place to rest in the cargo area of the ship. Soon everyone was sound asleep.

But for one of them the sensation of fur prickling in the nape of her neck wouldn't allow her to get some sleep. She couldn't place her claw on it but it felt like worry as she thought on the cheetah's words earlier. Looking at the rest of them sleeping and without making any noise, she got up.

The wind begun blowing with more strength but that didn't seem to bother the lion looking at the horizon from the guardrail deep in thoughts.

"Your Majesty?" Someone called behind him. Instantly, he knew who that was but didn't answer.

The female cat stepped closer to the guardrail but kept some distance from him.

Lion-O waited before asking, his voice sounding bored somehow. "Tell me something Pumyra. Have you changed your mind?" Not making eye contact with her.

The tone in his voice got her aback and looked at him intriguingly. "What do you mean?"

"Back in Thundera…" He paused. "The night before the invasion; you told me you wouldn't prefer my brother as king, have you changed you mind?"

Pumyra's mind went back to that moment and then turned to look at the lion waiting for him to do the same.

At hearing no answer he did so and then she responded solemnly. "I don't regret what I said. But, Lion-O…" She stopped.

"What?" He asked.

"I…don't think you're making the right choices." The female cat concluded.

"Oh, you think Tygra would do better than me?" The lion returned raising his voice a little.

"I'm not saying that, listen." She raised her voice a bit too but she refrained. "Then, I didn't know you much but when Mum-Ra's forces attacked, I thought I would die then and you saved my life. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here with all of you now." She made a little pause. "And I thought you could be a good king but things are different now and I don't understand what you're doing…You're not the same I-"

"The same?" Lion-O interrupted suddenly. "Mum-Ra and his army reduced our home to pieces! He posed as one of us and killed my father in cold blood _before my eyes_, and you want me to be the same?!" His teeth bared.

Pumyra stare in his eyes disliking what she saw in them. He was furious yes, but not just that, Lion-O felt like the evil demon had played him, played all of them by committing that despicable act worth only of him and that marked the end of Thundera.

Despise telling what was on her mind; she regretted having provoked that outburst on him. "I'm sorry I upset you, I only did what you asked and answered your question." The puma let out with a heavy voice.

That enraged gaze on his azure eyes disappeared as he watched the girl heading downstairs. She stopped half way and said. "About what you said, you're not the only one. We also lost everything…My King." And she was gone.

After that, the young lion was left with a bitter sensation that couldn't shake off, and yet, the anger was still there. He looked around and notice more clouds grouping but at the same time the atmosphere was quiet…just like the proverbial calm before the storm.

In the middle of the night Kit and Kat dozed one on top of the other next to Snarf. The three of them woke at the sound of someone abruptly failing at sneaking behind them. The three pair of eyes flattered open as they saw the ship's chef holding his cooking blade.

"Oh! Hi there." Willykat grinned.

"Don't tell us, you're still hungry?" His sister asked, ready to take off.

The malicious smile on the fishman banished as he waved the knife over them. Snarf squealed and the three ran off away from him. The little cat pet clutched to Willykit's back.

"Gee, this guy doesn't give up easily, does he?" Kat pointed.

The cook took a couple of knifes from his coat and darted them toward the kittens. The twins douched them with ease and climbed up the net tied to one of the masts.

"You think he can follow us?" Kit asked teasingly. The three of them looked down.

"It seems he can." Her brother said mischievously, watching the large fish climbing behind them with the blade on his teeth. The net began to stir as they bounced back and forward. The red furred feline attached to the girl let out a scream as they swung.

The chef lost his balance and his body bent backwards almost falling off the net, luckily for him one of his foot got stuck between the ropes, but his knife dropped from his mouth. A victorious smile draw on the kids faces as they climbed down the net airy. The large fish still trying to disengage his foot.

Kit and Kat ran to the upper deck and finally heard the slamming sound from the cook's fall. The cubs ran and hide while keeping their friend quiet. Soon the chef got to the upper level and search for them.

"Please, Snarf." Willykit pleaded.

"Yeah, you're gonna get us caught." The cat boy hushed.

All of a sudden the box where they were hiding behind was pushed to a side and the huffy cook stretched his arms to catch them but they escaped again, now running toward the guardrail.

"End of the way." The fish boasted having cornered the twins against the rail.

When he leaned down to get them Kit and Kat leaped out of his reach to the lower deck but Snarf hopped on the chef's head instead blocking his view. The large fish unwillingly stepped forward to regain his balance but being too close to the edge he fell off.

On the way down, Snarf jumped off his head and next to the Willies and the three saw the chef with his upper body jammed in a barrel.

"Alright!" They cheered.

"Thank you Snarf." Kit said petting his head.

Then a strong lightning stroke the sky and they heard a raspy voice coming from the inside of the ship. "Again! What's with all that racket?!" Captain Tunar yelled and hurried to the main mast with the telescope.

The waves squirming now, the ship was entering a stormy zone. The crew ran out of the ship at all speed and more lightning flashed. The first mate rushed to the ship's front bow as the rest of the crew worked to raise the ship as far away from the wild waves as possible.

"That can't be good." Tygra shot looking up to the sky.

"Where's Lion-O?" Cheetara asked.

Another lightning stroke the sea parting it and revealing something emerge in the middle.

"The Ramlak, there!" The Lord of the Thundercats shouted hanging from the net beneath the crow's nest right below from where Koineleus watched. "A quarter arc of the sun's journey straight ahead!"

Indeed the cat spotted the Ramlak's silhouette from afar. At the top it had large waving tendrils and scaly plaques like leaves around it, near the bottom of the body were the tentacles from before.

"Good spot lad. Quit flopping around you lazy lobs! We have a Ramlak to catch!" The captain ordered.

The ship hummed as it began chasing the creature across the Sand Sea, and as they followed floating rocks and lightning clashed. The first mate who had been following the Ramlak's trail addressed the crew. "Lighting storm just blew in ahead! I advice we sail around it!" He shouted.

Koineleus pushed the first mate aside. "Not a chance, I'm not losing sight of this beast!" Lion-O behind him. "Full speed ahead!"

"But captain! The crew won't survive!" The first-mate warned.

"The only thing that's not surviving is the Ramlak!" Said Lion-O as he ran up and jumped onto the helm. "It's not getting away, into the storm we go!" He shouted, and turning the wheel he steered the ship into the storm.

"Lion-O this is madness! What are you doing?" Tygra spat alarmed.

"Not letting anything stand in may. Not this storm, not you!" The lion shot back. The other cats looked at him worried.

The ship kept going after the beast that tried to escape as it sunk most of its body into the sand. "Faster boy, I can almost taste its foul breath!" Koineleus said to the lion behind the wheel.

"What do we do now?" Kit asked looking at the fierce aspect of the sky.

"Over there!" Kat spotted Pumyra holding on to the guardrail and both kittens ran toward her. Snarf followed them and Kat grabbed him from the slippery floor from the rain.

Beside the puma girl, Willykit asked in a demanding voice. "Why aren't we getting out of this storm?"

At the question Pumyra looked around and saw Lion-O on the wheel. "This is worse than I thought…" She mused with wide eyes behind the locks of hair flowing on her face because of the wind and then turned to the little ones and said. "Hang on! We're not getting out of this." She feared.

"Captain please! The ship won't survive the storm!" Cheetara cried.

"We have to turn back, now!" Tygra added.

"Too late for that landlubbers!" Tunar affirmed. "I see you're just as soft as the rest of the chum on this ship." He told them and then looked at Lion-O. "You're much better than this bunch of scardy cods. Come on lad, it's the two of us against the creature!"

Lion-O nodded sharply and ran along the captain to the ship's weapons. Koineleus took the canons as the red haired cat ran up the front bow and start slicing rocks coming on his direction with his sword.

Getting closer to the Ramlak Lion-O kept slashing the rocks while losing noting of what was going on around them. "You're crazy! There's no way we can face this storm and you want to also go after that thing?!" Tygra yelled seeing bigger waves coming closer.

"He won't listen, Tygra." The cheetah raised her voice under the pounding rain.

The Tiger's eyes narrowed. "Come on, it's up us help this guys get through the storm." He told her.

She nodded and both hurried to the deck where the crew fought to keep the sails on curse and the cargo safe. "Forget that, we have to get to safety!" The cleric told them.

The ship reached the eye of the storm filled with lightning and the storm just got worse with the roaring wind, the flashes in the sky revealed the Ramlak's position.

"It's surfacing. Now is our chance!" The captain shouted to his crew forcing them to take their weapons.

The fishmen got sight of the creature almost on them and paralyzed in fear at its mercy. Tygra and Cheetara join them to help contain the attack.

Pumyra told the twins to stay together and then ran off to join the others fighting the Ramlak. The creature's tentacles pounced out of the sand and wrapped the vessel.

The Thundercats tried the best they could to keep the ship in one piece but the storm didn't help. Seeing his crew failing at killing the beast, the captain spoke to his companion. "Ready my boy?"

"Always." And the lion grabbed one of the spear guns from the fishmen and shoot to a tentacle wounding it. He let go of the spear and sliced the tentacle in two with his sword. Tunar just focused on the Ramlak's body.

The beast bawled ferociously at the shots. "You're mine now." The captain gloated. His aim closer to its mouth. More tentacles invaded the ship as the previous ones tightened their grip on it and a cracking sound was heard.

Cheetara rushed to the side and looked down the edge for the next sneak attack; a large tendril emerged from the sand about to whip at her. The cheetah reduced the attack quickly lashing the tentacle with her staff.

More tentacles surged from the sandy waves. "This seems endless!" The blonde cat gasped.

"Watch out!" A shot from Tygra's laser gun fired nearby hitting the tentacle coming from behind her.

Ramlak grabbed one of the masts and tore it down in half. The piece of mainstay fell on deck wrecking in the middle as the waves stroke and help breaking the ship side. Pumyra reached the front bow and shoot at the tentacles waving in the air with her wrist-bow and they launching toward her, the puma ceased fire and leaped out of the way.

Instead of landing on her feet, the ship's shaking movement caused her to stumble onto the guardrail hitting her left side. Pumyra then looked closely to the bandages on the arm she was holding on with and unwrapped them quickly. She then leaped again dodging the next attack from the tendril and took one of the rocks scattered across the floor, wrapped it in the bandages and use it as a sling whirling and firing at the tentacle and cutting the tip off.

The creature got more and more furious from all the wounds and the canon shots. "Take out the arms and then we go for the head!" The captain bellowed.

Far from following Tunar orders Tygra and Cheetara kept teaming up on the lower deck to keep the beast at bay but found themselves hard to do so as they were on an unsteady floor as the two parts of the ship begun to grow farther one from the other caused by the sand flowing forward.

At the front bow the lion heard a scream. "Lion-O, you have to do something!" Then he saw the other cats fighting to stay alive against the storm and turned to look startled at Koineleus not getting out of his seat while shooting the beast. "This isn't our fight!" Pumyra called to him again. "It's not even theirs! If this goes on the captain's gonna steer them to a certain death!" Shouting above the wind desperately.

Her words echoed inside Lion-O's head getting back to reality through a rush of fear and making him realized he was doing the same thing as the captain was to his friends.

Some fishmen got thrown by the Ramlak into the sea. The wooden floor beneath the tiger's feet wracked and fell apart as he slipped overboard.

"Tygra!" Cheetara tried to reach for him while holding on to the broken end of the rail.

The cargo fell on both sides of Tygra's way down and took avenge of them to get back on his feet by using them as a bridge to climb back up but the rest of the floor was crumbling. On the way the prince caught sight of the cubs in the path of one of the tentacles unable to aid them.

With the next jerk from the ship Kit and Kat were tossed in the air and into the waves. Pumyra did not hesitate and dove into the sand after them, Tygra soon followed and brought a log closer for them to grab on. Cheetara then let go of the rail and jumped too.

Lion-O tried to stay on balance while watching his friends floating in the storm. "Don't stop now lad, the Ramlak is ours!" Tuner shouted.

"But they all gonna drown!" The lion adverted

"Forget about them, we can finally end this beast's existence before it submerges again." The captain replied.

"But at what cost? If you lose your crew, you'll lose everything you have left!" The Lord of the Thundercats questioned showing him to the remain of ship and all the people casted into the Sand Sea.

But Tuner remained careless about it. "Ha! We can always get a new crew lad…they're dispensable for me." With a cold stare.

Right then, Lion-O knew there was nothing to be done about the fish's reasoning and turned to his friends. "Come on, Lion-O. Don't tell me you're just as soft as that bunch of chum over there!"

"I guess I am." The Young lion stare distant at him and went down to the piece of the ship they were standing on and over the debris on the other side.

The captain ignored that and took a spear aiming to the Ramlak; he shot right to the main body of the creature. The leaf-shaped membranes around the body closed up sealing it in as it sank into the sand, as it did, Koineleus was pulled along with it but he didn't loosen his grip, laughing insanely as he was pulled into the sand as well.

"Everyone, over here!" Called Lion-O and the others swam toward the debris to safety. He then used his own spear to pull them close to the shipwreck and off the sand.

After that the storm stilled and everyone was out of danger. "You steered us into quite a storm, Lion-O." The blonde cat commented.

"Yeah, try not to let it happen again, alright?" Tygra teased. In fact, he knew there was an apology coming up; he couldn't wait to hear it.

Pumyra looked at her King expectantly after the comment but Lion-O did not returned his brother's comment, instead he bent his head and admitted. "I lost sight of what's important…" Remembering Pumyra's words back then during the storm and looked right at her. "I'm-"

And before he could go on, the Ramlak rose up from the sand once again. The creature lowered its body, revealing its mouth and it shot purple tendrils extending down, snatching Lion-o up high from them.

"Lion-O!" The puma shouted.

"Give him back, you slimy sack of tentacles!" Willykat shouted shake his fist at the monster.

The Ramlak then drew Lion-o into its mouth and he was gone. After that the monster turned its great body to the survivors and its tentacles shot forward again. The others could only watch in fear as it advanced on them. Suddenly, the Ramlak stopped completely and the sound of flesh being cut was heard.

A flash of light got through Ramlak's body from the inside as the Sword of Omens suddenly pierced through, and then down as it went, water gushed out! From the rip, Lion-o came out sodden in water. The Ramlak deflated as the liquid flowed out its great body which was now ripping apart as the water gushed out, filling into the Sand Sea, and pushing it away as the water began to rush back in revealing land.

"Incredible." Cheetara mused with wide eyes as a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"That was amazing!" Kit and Kat cheered.

The fishes cheered as well as the water splashed them all. Their home was at last recovered. Everyone looked in awe at the bran oasis now draping the Sand Sea in the middle of the desert. The fishmen helped Lion-O to his feet and give him and the other cats a small but functional vehicle to surf across the watery sea.

"Thank you, Lion-O. Thanks to you, we have our home back." The first mate said while shaking hands with the lion.

"I'm sorry about your captain." Lion-O said.

"There's no need my friend. It was his own foolish choice that led him to his sandy grave." The first mate told him. Lion-o lowered his head slightly.

Suddenly Pumyra sidled up from behind with a grin on her face. "Looks like there's still hope for you, Your Majesty." Soon realizing the boldness of her comment and how close she'd got next to him, she cleared her throat excusing herself.

Lion-O stared at her in surprise and then smiled at her optimistic. "Thanks for giving it to me."

Her cheeks turned slightly red as she tried to hide it. From their transportation the two cubs looked curiously wondering what was that they were talking about. Tygra stared at them with a blank expression while Cheetara smiled mildly.

"We better get moving before the sun sets!" Tygra spoke. His brother turned to see them on the small ship, the fierce hate that was once in his eyes was now gone.

"So what orders do you have for your crew?" Cheetara asked.

Lion-O waited before responding "Set our course for the Book of Omens!" He said.

"Aye, aye captain!" The cleric saluted.

"And what do we do with these two stowaways?" Tygra asked indicating Kit and Kat, who were purring and smiling adorably at the lion king.

"I said I'm not going to babysit. It's a good they've proven they can take care of themselves." Right after hearing those words coming from Lion-O, Pumyra smiled content at the twins celebrating then the two got into the ship with others and set sail to their next journey.

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From now...thanks for commenting and reviewing^^

Next Update in 7 days.


	3. The Song of the Petalars

Far way on Third Earth into the barren desert was the lair of the powerful Mum-Ra. The Black Pyramid.

From the outside one could only hear the raging winds lifting sand on its way but on the inside, beyond its walls, hurtful screams filled every hallway toward the main chamber where Mum-Ra's throne was. The Warlord stood in front of his chair watching delighted the body of the presumed deceased head cleric, Jaga The Wise twisting and grunting in pain inside a circle cell built out of dark magic. Jaga was fighting to withstand the evil one's attempt to corrupt his mind in search of valuable data.

"If Jaga knew where the Book of Omens was, Claudus never would've sent Panthro and I to look for it." General Grune, Thundera's traitor said to his new master. "The Sword of Omens is what's important."

"Is that so, Grune?" Mum-Ra questioned. "If he has nothing to hide, then explain why he so fiercely resists my efforts to prove his mind. The Sword of Omens is but a part of the bigger picture. The Book of Omens has a more important use." The mummy raised his hand reading to release a darker magic.

"Your magic is strong wizard, but today you will break." With a gesture of his hand the cell containing the elder cat released more discharges torturing him. "Where is the book?!" The dark sorcerer demanded.

"You know I'll die before revealing the book's location." Jaga replied weakly yet unswerving.

His answer wasn't much of a surprise for the Warlord, he ceased the torture and held a dark maw-shaped lantern and it began absorbing the cleric's body into a mystic essence. Jaga resisted the terrible magic to Mum-Ra's amusement but it was in vain, the artifact trapped the jaguar inside letting show only his head in the form of a bright light.

"The dark magic in this lantern will force you to show us the location of the Book of Omens."

And as the evil sorcerer said, against his will the obscure power of the lantern obligated the elder cleric to show the way turning him into a sort of compass under Mum-Ra's command, then the compass pointed straight East in a powerful beam of light.

Elsewhere after their sailing out of the fishmen oasis the Thundercats reached mainland entering the woods. Inside his mind Lion-O knew he had his friend's forgiveness but that didn't seem enough. As Lord of the Thundercats he was the leader and after the fight with Ramlak he realized his responsibilities were far greater than he thought. He not only had to guide them but also make sure of the group's safety.

While it was undoubted that the cats could take care of themselves, they were a team, and on a team there's always a leader. Lion-O needed to prove himself he could fill in that role. For everyone's sake.

"Come on Lion-O or you'll be left behind." Tygra told him seeing his brother walking way behind the group.

Cheetara turned to looked at the lion and saw his deep in thoughts expression; she then recalled the moment when Lion-O became officially Lord of the Thundercats, and so the last time she would ever see her master. The cheetah slowed down to walk beside him and speak to him but the lion spoke first.

"I have something to say." Everyone stopped walking and looked at him. "I owe you all an apology…"

The cats stood in silence, and then the blonde cat approached him. "It's alright Lion-O. In the end we survived thanks to you."

"It's not just that, it's- I'm sorry about my actions even before founding the Sand Sea." The young lion said now looking down.

The others' gazes were on him not in a judging manner but understanding him instead. The only ones not quite getting the situation were the twins but they soon realized he was talking about the distance the lion drawn between them, not to mention his bad temper. The kids understood and smiled friendly.

"It's in the past, Lion-O." The tiger said indifferent looking ahead. "It'll be dark soon, we better move on and find a place to spend the night."

The others agreed and kept marching. Still, something about his brother's attitude didn't feel right for the lion but he was used to it so he let it go as he kept walking.

At the river side the special squad unit under Slithe's orders scanned the area. "The trail's gotten cold." Slithe's raspy voice complained.

"Slithe, it's still here." A voice from nowhere said, the general turned in its direction. "You just can't see it." Khamai the chameleon, leather of the squad revealed his possition lying on the tree next to his general. "Kask, what have you found?"

A slim lizard of pale skin and eyes emerged from the water. "Food scraps from up-river, where they must be." Holding the fishes' skeletons and then throwing them to the ground.

A bulky lizard got close and sniffed the spines "How far, Sauro?" Khamai asked.

"Less than a day away." The tracked of the squad answered.

"Then let's triple our pace." Slithe ordered and the special unit splat up. The chameleon banished into the footage, Kask followed the river path while Sauro went with the general to help on tracking the cat's trail.

At night after dinner Tygra and Pumyra parted from the group to watch in case the enemy was close following them while the others rested by the bonfire.

"It's because you're scared." Willykat mocked pointing at his sister.

"I'm not scared!" Kit spat back.

"Then do it." Her brother grinned.

"But-"

"Scaredy cat, scaredy cat!" The little boy scoffed pointing at her face.

"Fine! I'll do it!" The other kitten knelt down and grabbed a little creature resembling a frog standing before her. She held it close to her face and bent forward pressing her lips against it, at the contact the slimy creature opened its mouth letting out its whip-like tongue frightening the little girl making her fall with her back on the grass while hearing her brother's laughter.

"I knew it! Willykit loves the froog, Willykit loves the froog!" Kat sneered waving his hands in the air.

"No, I don't. You dared me!" His sister jumped up and began chasing him.

The two kittens run around in the dark. Kit pounced on her brother trying to catching but he lipped out of her reach, that was until Kat stepped on the muddy edge of the lake they were running around, slipping and falling down on the mod to his sister amusement who was laughing at him.

By the fire Lion-O and Cheetara looked after the cubs, with a nostalgic look on the lion's face. "In the blink of an eye…" He muttered.

"Uh?" The cleric looked up to him.

"It's nothing; it's just that I keep thinking about my father." Lion-O said. "I know it sounds dumb but I- I thought he'd live forever. He gave his life, and for what? We have nothing left."

Looking at the sadness in his gaze, Cheetara leaned closer and said. "We have the sword, we have each other…but most importantly we have hope."

"Do we?" The King asked looking at her.

The cheetah looked at him silently as she remembered her mentor's words the morning Grune returned to Thundera. "_-I wanted you specifically to look after him.- -I have all my trust in you, Cheetara…-_"

"Jaga..." Escaped her lips while reminiscing.

Lion-O was still looking at her and asked what was that she said in a whisper. She did not respond, instead the young cleric said. "You're not alone Lion-O, don't forget that." Cheetara then placed her hand above his own in the grass. "I'll be there to help you."

Not so far from there Pumyra patrolled their perimeter while the tiger watched from above on the trees, she then stopped next to a large tree, from the corner of her eye she caught sight of the two cats by the fire sitting and talking very close to each other. Pumyra tried to convince herself she didn't care about what they could be talking about…

Snarf sat down next to her and rubbed his cheek against her leg as a way to let her know to stop distracting herself. The little feline looked over to the pair she was _spying _on and he understood, then he ran toward them and pounced on his master's head.

Cheetara leaned back from Lion-O and smiled at his pet while he looked kind of annoyed. "Are you kidding me, now?" He protested and the cat pet began playing and tugging at his armor.

The puma girl saw what Snarf just did for her and provoked a soft smile to draw on her face. At that moment her attention turned to Tygra that signaled her and the others to go up to where he was on top of a tree. Cheetara ran up to where the prince was and looked at the lights heading straight to them in the horizon with large cutting saws making their way through the woods. The Thundercats joined her in the branches.

"It's the entire lizard army. Just say the Word Lion-O." The cheetah said.

The young lion stopped to think, given his experience jumping to battle he said. "No…if we stay here, we die."

"Thundercats do not retreat." Tygra stood up. "It wasn't our fight back then but this one is!"

"With the situation this hopeless I'll make an exception." His brother returned firmly.

"Hope comes from action, isn't that what father told us!" Tygra argued.

"And what happened to him?! Now come on." Lion-O entered the forest without another words expecting the rest of them to follow him.

The cats went deeper into the woods leaping from branch to branch reaching the darkest part and stopped at the view of a huge dome made of spines. Meanwhile the lizards tracked them into the forest at slow but steady pace.

"What's that place?" Willykat asked wide-eyed.

"You _do _realize none of us has ever seen this place, right?" Kit looked at him matter-of-factly.

"The lizards won't be able to follow us in there." Lion-O told them pointing at the dome.

Tygra found the suggestion pretty childish of his brother. "You're asking us to, what? Hide among the brambles until the lizards go away?" He asked. "This is not how we're going to win this war."

"I'm not asking." Lion-O scolded and went ahead looking for an entrance.

"You may be king…but I'm still older than you!" The tiger returned.

Then Pumyra stepped next to him. "With all _due_ respect but, don't you see those lizards widely outnumber us? He's just trying to keep us alive." She said coldly and jumped down with the others after the lion.

Their king discovered an entrance and signaled them to go in after him while he cut the path open for them with his sword through the bramble. One by one entered, the puma girl was the last on the line.

Her late comment to the prince certainly got the cheetah's attention that walked closer to her. "What is it?" She asked.

Pumyra looked at her and then at the two brothers in front of the line. "I don't get it." She said in a low voice.

"Uh?" The cleric looked at her.

"What is it between them?" The puma clarified. "Just days ago Lion-O...I mean, the king steer us into a storm that destroyed the ship we were on and now that he's trying to make up for it, his brother suggests we face the enemy who has all the odds in favor." Now, looking at the cat beside her.

"Well…" Cheetara looked ahead. "I know them as much as you do, but I remember when I trained to become a cleric, Jaga told me once about certain _fraternal rivalry_ between them."

"Fraternal?" Pumyra cut in. "But, they're not blood-related…" She said looking at the obvious reasons.

"No, they're not but both were raised as such but King Claudus himself. You should at least know that much." Cheetara commented peaceably. The brown-haired cat nodded. "With the years, I suppose the games and competitions grew into challenges…And Tygra always seemed to best Lion-O, until he became King." She explained.

"I can recall something like that…" Pumyra said remembering the game arena during the celebrations' night.

"However, this is a change we all will have to get used to…without exception." The young cleric concluded.

In the heart of the woods, the small natives gathered all together in a circle with songs welcoming their new brother. On top of a hillock in the middle of the clearing, an elder with skin with the texture as a leaf, the same as her clothing approached the little seed the wind carried from the sky. It was a baby and she received it with the song of the Petalars.

The elder cradled the seed in her fragile hands and spoke to it with a tender voice. "You've been given the gift of life, it is a fragil gift and not one you can keep forever but…it is the most precious gift in all the world." She placed the flower baby on a crib made of cotton. "Use it well, little one."

The flower-people not only welcomed their new member of the race but also sang their goodbyes to the elder, she fell to the ground with a tired yet content expression on her face and her body dried into pieces, the leaves then were carried by the wind up to the night sky.

On the outside of the clearing the Thundercats could hear their song. "What is that sound?" Cheetara asked.

"It sounds like…music." Tygra replied.

Lion-O cut their way through the brambles farther in and peeked into a hole on the spines. On the other side he looked amazed at the group of small flower-people with leaf-like features distinguishing them from each other, no animal has ever seen a species like this on Third Earth. The young king cut some hanging branches of briar to take a closer look and the singing stopped.

The little race frightened at the cat's presence and the sword one of them wielded. The Thundercats stood staring at them curiously as they waited hopelessly, except for one of them…a little boy with violet leaf-hair.

"What are you? I've never seen people like you before! Are you from here in the Briar?" He quickly climbed a briar branch, talking very rapidly and pointed at Lion-O's sword. "What's that in your hands, did you make it?" He climbed up to the top of the branch where he could make better eye contact with Lion-O, and turned to look at Snarf on the lion's shoulder. "You're not the same as the others, are you some kind of pet?" Snarf didn't reply, the little flower boy then fired off more questions, "Do you grow from seeds like us? What's that red crystal? How tall are you anyway? Why are you covered with hair? What kind of—" Lion-O cut him off by putting his pinky finger to his tiny mouth.

"Ok, slow down…You sound like me when I was your age." The red-haired cat said between chuckles and the others started laughing at the comment.

The rest of the flower people saw their boy laughing along with the animals and they laughed as well realizing they had nothing to fear about the strangers. The cats then stepped into the clearing and took a seat down on the grass.

One of the little flowers approached them in welcome. "You've already met young Emrick. We are the Petalars, we come from a far-off paradise called the Garden." Then told them about how their home, got whipped by a strong wind long ago, and swept up the entire Petalar race…Carrying them, across the sky and bringing them to Briar Woods, where they remained stranded for generations since then.

"Generations?" Tygra exclaimed. "Is this place so big you couldn't find your way out in all that time?"

"Oh, but we have a map." Said Emrick holding a bigger dried up leaf over his head. "It's a very old map and it'll take us out of the briars to the Cliff of Winds. Once we're there, we'll be able to ride the winds all the way home."

Lion-O reached down and picked up the old leaf, looking over the map. "We'll help you, and together we both are going to find the way out of here Emrick, I promise." He smiled.

Seeing a ray of hope for them, the Petalars jumped and cheered loudly.

Emrick jumped up and grabbed a piece of hair from Lion-O's mane swinging back and forth cheering. "Hooray for Lion-O! Hooray for Lion-O!"

"Seems like Emrick's found a hero." The young cleric said smiling at the little petalar playing with their king.

"Hm. He's too young to know better." Tygra said.

Cheetara looked over at him. "Come on, he's doing good trying to help them find a way home." She reasoned.

Tygra thought for a moment, he did not admit it but she was right. He could give his brother at least that.

Lion-O, Pumyra and the twins approached the Petalars to know each other a little more. Snarf got easily comfortable with them and gave the little ones a ride on his back. Kit and Kat chuckled and giggled at the children imitation the red furred feline going down in all four and quickly be friend them.

"Who would've thought such species like this existed…" Pumyra mused amazed by the plant-like race.

"I know, but I think it's great." Lion-O said sitting next to her while they watched the Willies playing with them. "I mean, they're not like us nor the lizards or the fishmen…and without knowing here they are. It let us know how little we know about our own home…"

His words made appear a smile on the puma's face. She then looked at the Petalars, knowing he was talking not about Thundera but the entire planet.

Apart from them Tygra stood in silence looking around, imagining how would the Petalars feel about being trapped in there away from their home for so long. Yet, he couldn't get himself out of the idea that they didn't seem distressed at all…they were a tiny race, one would think they were hopeless and defenseless but they didn't seem so. Tygra then turned his attention at the blonde cat…

Cheetara was standing beneath the light that showered that part of the briars holding the map she borrowed from Lion-O as she tried to read it till she gave the others the signal to start moving on. They followed her into a one-way path trying to get across the briar without much circling around or they would end up more lost than before.

As they went farther into the bramble the map made less and less sense to her distress. "I can't recognize any landmark on this map." She ended up saying stopping by another clearing. They made a stop to consider their next step and if there was another way to read the map.

Meanwhile Emrick tried to imitate Lion-O by getting himself a handmade sword out of stalks and started practicing under his entertained watch.

"When I grow up, I wanna be just like you, Lion-O" Emrick said after various swings of his sword.

Lion-O smiled at his innocence and said. "Enjoy your childhood, trust me you'll miss it when it's gone."

"But I want to be a hero…can you give me sword lessons?" The little one asked him enthusiastic.

The red-maned lion smirked at his enthusiasm and agreed to teach him. "For starters, you can't just wave a weapon around like that."

"Can you make more out of the map?" Tygra approached the concentrate cheetah.

Cheetara looked at the map but it was hopeless for her, the marks didn't seem to coincide with the path they were standing on. She then turned to him showing him the map. "How about you? You learned, right?" In a pacific tone.

The prince looked at her in awe and turned quickly to the map.

"Why don't you try holding it backwards?" Kit said surprising them both.

"What're you saying? That wouldn't make any sense." Tygra told her.

"But she's been looking at it rightwards and it doesn't make sense either." Willykat explained.

Tygra and Cheetara looked at each other in disbelief without taking quite seriously the kids' suggestion and looked into the map once again. Seeing the olders reaction the little girl let out a huff.

Behind the group Lion-O wielded his sword to demonstrate Emrick how to use it. "Now Emrick, you need to concentrate. Be more precise."

"Pre- pres…Precise! Got it." The little petalar agreed.

Out of the blue a wild six-eyed bird of red wings dived into the woods and snatched Emrick up in its claws under the lion's noses. "Emrick!" He yelled out.

The Thundercats heard their King and ran on his direction.

"Emerick! Fight back!" Lion-O shouted up at him. Emerick jabbed at the bird's feet, and it dropped him. The lion hurried to where he thought saw the boy fall and looked around for him until he spotted his little silhouette a few feet away. "You scared me half to death, Emrick." He sighed going to his aid.

"I thought I would never see you again, Lion-O" Said a young purple-haired petalar carried a stalk-made sword with him.

"Who are you? Where's Emrick?" The Lord of the Thundercats asked.

"What you mean, Lion-O? I'm Emrick." The young one said. "Don't you recognize your old friend?"

"But- Emrick's just a boy." Lion-O said in awe. "You sure you're ok?"

"Sure…but I guess I must've been lost in the briar for a long time." Young Emrick said thoughtful.

"Well, not _that_ long, Emrick." The lion told him.

"Your Magesty!" Pumyra shouted approaching them along the cats and the rest of the Petalars. "What happened?" She asked seeing the petalar Lion-O was with.

"You never gave up trying to find me." Emrick thanked his friend.

The young lion smiled back. Emrick then reunited with the other Petalars as Cheetara walked up toward the two cats holding a tiny petalar even younger than Emrick was when they first met him. "As the Ancient Thunderian philosopher once said: _Time is relative._" Placing the little petalar on the ground, it soon began chasing a butterfly flying low close to the ground. "This child was just a baby hours ago." She explained.

Lion-O and Pumyra stared at her in surprise like two kids.

"The Petalars entire existence seems to pass in the course of a single day." As the cheetah said this, one of the older Petalars fell, his body turning into dried leaves that floated away in the air, "But from their perspective…"

"It's a lifetime." Lion-O mused.

"Can you imagine?" They turned their attention to the puma girl. "To start your life, and have it gone in one day..." The three of them looked down at the race walking by next to them.

From outside the lizards made it to Briar Woods after dawn. Their path was delayed by the briar branches seeing their cutting machines could not break through, but that did not discourage general Slithe for long.  
"Clever strategy. But one that only postpones the inevitable." He said holding the thorns and addresses his special squad. "If we can't get in, then you will bring them out "  
At the signal Khamai and the two other lizards splat up and sought their own way through the forest and toward the Thundercats.

.

Hi again readers. I wanted to say something about the Song of the Petalars episode. I'm only gonna to say this '_under my point of view_': The Petalars were from the few flawless characters of all the series and they only had one episode, their characters were so good they only need one single episode. For that reason I don't dare and won't write them much different from the real thing…as for the Thundercats' adventure with them, things will get better on the second part so, stay tuned.

Since now, thanks for reading!


	4. Farewell From Flames

After finding out about the secret behind the Petalars' lives and a brief rest Tygra took command of the map to the Cliff of Winds, but even though he was the most experienced of the group on military strategy and map's reading, they were getting nowhere near the objective.

After being told by Cheetara, Kit and Kat looked expectantly at the little raze waiting to see the aging process of some of them with their own eyes. Unable to keep their eyes on all of them at the same time the two didn't get to see it really, but with every passing hour they saw old Petalars they didn't see before along with more little children appearing with every little blow of wind that went through the briars.

"Are we making any progress?" Cheetara asked, her eyes watching only more brambles straight ahead.

"If the map is meant to lead us into every corner toward more spines, then yes, we're doing great." The tigre told her sarcastically. "I don't think for most _generations_ they've passed here this place couldn't have changed as much to not coincide with any part on this map."

"Meaning?" The blonde cat asked.

Tygra looked down carefully at the flower people walking by their side and proceeds to tell her quietly. "We're lost, that's what it means."

She looked at the new born Petalars and thought about the short lives ahead of them and the more they wandered inside the woods they got less chance to get home. "We'll find a way." She said firmly refusing to give up. The rince looked at her closely and nodded in agreement.

Emrick and Lion-O stayed behind of the line watching the others' backs, the teen petalar looked very enthusiastic wielding his stalks-made sword with more precision than moments ago while being a kid.

"You've gotten pretty good, Emrick." The lion said watching his friend.

"I hope so; I've been practicing since I was a little kid." He answered, completely unaware that for his cat friend the time wasn't as long as it was to him.

Pumyra and the kittens jerked their heads up toward the sky where they heard a growling sound from an animal. "Get down!" The brown-haired cat shouted and the Petalars and the two kids threw themselves to the ground evading the sneak attack from the six-eyed bird from before, Emrick recognized immediately.

"Are you ok?" Lion-O asked the group and turned to look at his petalar friend not beside him but running toward the beast instead. "Emrick, no!"

"My old nemesis, we meet again." Emrick waited for the bird to dive into the woods once more and when it did this time it landed on the ground attacking the purple-haired petalar that defended and attacked simultaneously with more skill then the last time.

Still he was overtaken by the giant bird with a single blow from its wing thronging the sword out of his little hand leaving him defenseless, in time Lion-O came to his aid and scared off the bird with his own sword.

Emrick looked shocked at his friend. "What're you doing?! I had him." He shouted angryily.

"That was dumb Emrick, you could've gotten hurt." The lion shot back just as angry.

"You don't have the right to tell me what to do, Lion-O. You're not my boss!" Emrick said back. "You let it go! It's a matter of time before it comes back and tries to hurt my friends once again!" And then he ran off into the briar.

"Teenagers…" Lion-O sighed heavily waving his head.

"Go after him, he could get lost." Pumyra commented from behind, he turned to look at her wide-eyed wondering if she was giving him orders or so, though, it didn't sound like that and then she said. "You're not leaving your friend behind now, are you?"

The young lion got her point and went after Emrick with not another word.

Inside Briar Woods Khamai and his group relied on Sauro's tracking abilities to get with the cats. They stopped over a hill and the large lizard sniffed. "They past here twice. They're lost."

"And they're not alone…" Khamai added seeing the tiny footprints next to the cats' on the dirt.

Looking at the footprints Kask said. "By the sizes of them, their companions won't seem a threat when we find them." Their leader then drew a mischievous grin.

At sunset the Petalars continue their journey now with a reddish view of the woods because of the lower sun.

"Lion-O!" Willykit shouted.

At the cub's scream Pumyra turned and looked over at the lion back, he looked at her back and shook his head.

Lion-O and Kit walked with the others behind on the line. "I couldn't find him. I thought he might has returned with the others." He said downcast as they continued their way.

Tygra ahead of them kept his eyes on the map settled to find a way around it. Cheetara walked close behind him and couldn't help but to stare at him, she noticed he was determined on finding the cliff. "You're starting to show your stubbornness I see." She said with a smile seeing the tiger was not willing to give up the map any time soon.

He turned at her comment and smirked. "Years ago I witnessed the same stubbornness from a certain girl…There's very few things I didn't learn from my father, you know?" Taken aback, the cleric stared at him with wide eyes as she felt like a rush on her chest.

Behind on the line an old petalar fell down as his body turned to leafs soaring in the air. Lion-O watched that and stood in silence at the lost. The puma girl not leaving him behind walked close to him as the lion looked at flower people marching without looking back.

The lion then said in a low voice. "What's the point of it all?...Kingdoms rise and fall, lifetimes come and go. Are any of us here long enough to make a difference?" He turned to see her as if waiting for an answer, and then both turned around at the sound of a voice.

"You sound like an old man talking like that." They saw an adult petalar standing across them in the briar, his purple, flowery head having a familiar face to it.

"Emrick?" Lion-O gasped.

"Don't tell me you're giving up on our journey, my friend?" The petalar asked. "With so many adventures ahead of us, we still have a chance to leave out marks."

Lion-O smiled bitterly thinking about the pass of time. "Yes my friend, many adventures I hope."

Emrick walked past them and something ahead on their path got his attention. "Can it be?" He ran and snatched the map that was on Cheetara's hands at the time and looked at it intently. He smiled widely seeing the six curling branches in front of them forming an archway, "This is it! The gateway to the Cliff of Winds!" He turned to his friends. "Once we get through this pass, we'll be free!"

"Then let's go!" Lion-O said enthusiastically. The Petalars cheered loudly and all ran towards it. The Thundercats waited for their friends to get through the path before following them in.

The crack of a twig was caught then by Tygra alerting him. "Lion-O!" He shouted after him but by the time he did, a laser shot through the briar hitting his brother from behind knocking down on the floor.

"Lion-O!" Cheetara cried as her hand rapidly reached her staff attached to a pocket on the back of her waist.

Khamai made himself visible while holding the laser gun. Kask then appeared falling from up high on the briar branches down aiming at the cleric, she quickly blocked the blow from his arm with her weapon and returned the attack but the lizard escaped the blow with easily.

Tygra anticipated where to intercept Kask and threw a punch but it didn't work either. Khamai saw him facing him with his back and aimed his laser gun to the tiger. Pumyra then shoot her wrist-crossbow at the chameleon making him fail his shot. The tiger looked over his shoulder at the cat that saved him.

Sauro then showed up with the rest of the troops outnumbering the cats and threw an electrified sling at the twins shocking them till leave them unconscious like Lion-O.

The cheetah speeded-up toward Sauro and thrust hand the lizard's hear, she looked shocked as she caused no harm to him and unaware left her guard down not seeing the strong hit coming at her and knocking her out at once.

Tygra tried going to her aid but Khamai got him and Pumyra under his aim as more lizards surrounded them preventing them from moving.

Out of their sight, the Petalars watched hopelessly as their friends got overtaken by the enemy.

"You're all fools to believe you could outrun your destiny." The chameleon said smirking.

Emrick not standing the lizards' abuse charged toward them. "Outrun this!" But Khamai was confident over his attacker's sizes and only whirled around and whipped out Emrick's sword of his hand with his tail and throwing him to the ground.

The purple-haired petalar looked at his lion friend lying there and stood up once again. "This is the momento Lion-O's been preparing me for my whole life." He breathed and turned to his people. "The Thundercats has been our friends for as long as we can remember. They stuck with us through good times and bad times, they helped become who we are today and now it's time to repay their friendship!" The Petalars looked at each other feeling in debt with the cats and everyone cried out charging to battle the lizards turning into some kind of golden dust sort of like pollen.

The lizards began to hiss in pain as it filled their eyes and clouded their noses. Seeing the odds now on their favor Cheetara got up and knocked two lizards out with her staff. A bully one approached the hideout of one of the Petalars holding a baby-seed and he didn't see Tygra launching himself to hit him with his elbow and tossed him to the ground with a kick.

Pumyra faced Kask and ran toward him with him charging toward her as well. The lizard stretched his arm out and blew a punch but the puma evaded it leaping high over his head and spin-kicked him from behind.

Things started looking up for the cats. "You can't fight what you can't see!" The chameleon said blending into the environment.

"We can take care of that!" Willykat said as he and his sister threw pieces of fruit at Khamai exposing him with the fruit juice spreading on him.

"I can see you now." Lion-O said then rose up his sword and knocked the lizard down. After winning the fight Emrick raised his sword leading the Petalars and Thundercats back into the archway. The latter seeing the path was too small for them to go through so they had to go crawling.

"We really threw on their faces!" Willykit said excited.

"Yeah, they better thing it twice next time before facing us." Her brother said smiling.

"Now don't feel so good about yourselves." Cheetara said in a teacher-kind of voice. "If it wasn't for Emrick and his friends we wouldn't have made it." Cheetara told them.

Lion-O agreed and turned to his little friend. "Yeah, you were great out there Emrick. We owe you one."

"No my friend, it's the other way around." The adult petalar smiled. "It was just our way to thank you for standing up for us to those ugly guys."

Everyone saw a light from the other side of the path but when they got to the other side the sight discouraged them.

"Eh, there's no cliff here…" Kat pointed.

Willykit then put her finger in her mouth and pulled it back out holding it up in the air. "Or winds, just more woods."

The Petalars looked at each other very worried. From outside the briar Slithe was getting inpatient waiting for his squad to bring their pray out. "That's it! I had enough of waiting, set the place on fire! Burn it to ashes…and the cats with it!"

"But Khamai, and the others?" The lizard lieutenant asked startled.

His general returned with a grunt. "They're dispensable!...As are you, now do as I command!" And the other lizard obeyed and ordered his army to use the flame throwers on the briars.

Now at nightfall, inside of the dome of briar branches the Thundercats and their friends sat on the ground after their big disappointment of not finding the cliff.

"Now things sure are-" Kat stopped talking upon his sister's glaring that then turned into a sad look toward the youngest petalar looking frighten at the cub. "I mean…I'm sure they can find a way out of here. We'll be fine." Trying his best smile.

The twins then turned to look at the others waiting. Lion-O was lying against a log on the ground and Tygra sat next to him on it along Emrick. Tygra held the map on his hand. "Maybe I misread the map." He said.

"Perhaps only the Petalars themselves can interpret it." Cheetara said walking toward them. "Emrick clearly found this place on the map. Being made by his people things look different from he's perspective due to the size difference." She explained.

Lion-O listened intently and thought for a moment until he said bitterly. "Or maybe there is no cliff of the winds and the map is a lie." Emrick and the two cats looked at him. "But why?"

Emrick then smiled. "Perhaps our ancestors wanted to provide us with hope. Hope so we never stop looking for our way back home. "

The three of them stared at the adult petalar; only the cheetah smiled agreeing to his point of view.

"Is that all hope is? An illusion?" Pumyra questioned from the corner. Emrick looked at her sadly.

"It is not." Cheetara said. "Hope means we never give up."

"She's right." Emrick said. "As long as we keep fighting for what we want there will always be a way. That's how our people lives." Then he looked up and gasped.

Lion-O whirled his head in the same direction and saw the smoke and ashes around the forest. At the base the glow of the flames could be seen approaching them.

"Things are going to get a little more hopeless." Tygra said.

"We have to retrate. Again." Lion-O said reluctantly.

"No." The purple-haired petalar stopped him on his way. "We have to go toward it."

The Lion-O's eyes widened. "Toward the flames, are you crazy?"

Emrick ran to the branches rolled and turned to him with a smile. "Can you feel Lion-O? You know what this is?" They watched as the branch slowly uncurled, going up higher and higher until it was completely unfurled and reached the yop of the briar.

"The updraft from the fire…" Lion-O breathed and then smiled. "It's creating wind!" The Petalars all began to stand up and looked at the Cliff of Winds in awe.

"This is why you never give up hope!" Emrick spoke up and raised his sword to his people. "We're going home!" Older Petalars picked the children up and ran toward the branches. Snarf helped a small group carrying them all on his back s no one would be left behind.

Lion-O helped a little petalar to his feet before falling from the branch on its way up. Upon reaching the top, they grabbed leaves and flowers to help them floating in the air longer. The Thundercats looked content at the first ones to take off the surface of the branch and fly their way home at last, but Cheetara's gaze was more likely _looking _for someone around instead. Soon her eyes made contact with that someone and went for him.

"Lion-O." The cleric said solemnly holding something in her hands and gave it to the young king.

He offered the old petalar helping him to the top of the briar. "Hurry there's no time, literally." El petalar collapsed on his back, lying on his hands.

"This, I'm afraid, is the end of my journey." The elder breathed…beside him, a familiar sword made of stalks slid out and into the floor.

"Emrick?!" Lion-O gasped quietly.

"It's okay...my friend." Emrick said.

"In a blink of an eye." The lion murmured sad knowing that this would be the last time he would see his dear friend.

"In the end, what matters is not how long we've lived." Emrick began, "but how fully we've lived" The other Petalars gathered around them, and began to sing their farewell to their friend. "The good we've done, the friends we've made...the love we shared along the way." Lion-O's eyes began to fill with tears.

"Sorry I didn't get you to the Garden." Lion-O said quietly holding his tears.

"It's the journey Lion-O, remember that." His friend told him for the last time. The young lion then thought about all the time they shared together, good and bad. And all the great things, that little being taught him in such a short time.

To believe and want to be better.

Regardless the time apart, you never forget your friends.

Have confidence in yourself and don't let anyone push you around.

Whether life is short or long, it is always up to you to want and make a difference.

And most importantly, no matter how trapped you feel...never lose hope.

Emrick let out a sigh and his body became inert in Lion-O's hands. Everyone saw his body turned into violet leaves that rose in the air...Kit and Kat began crying loudly. Pumyra wiped the tears from her face as she stayed silent like Tygra and Cheetara looked at the night-sky and then closed her eyes praying farewell.

After a moment of silence Lion-O stood with his back to his friends, with tears still in his eyes but that were beginning to dry up. "Time to go home." He climbed up the branches followed by the twins and contemplated the Petalars thanking them and the others their help, floating in the wind that would take them finally home.

Willykit began playing her flute on her own farewell song. The three cats then went back down with the other, the flames surrounding them closer.

"So, what do we do now?" Tygra asked.

"We can still find another way out of the briars." The cleric said.

"No." The king refused. "We Thundercats never retreat. I say that we face the lizards, and hope for the best." He said with a smile. His friends looked firmly into his eyes that shone with hope again after so long and now affecting them as they stare at him like a true leader for the first time.

"We are all leaves passing in the wind, here and then gone, but while we're here…" He reached out and grabbed the handle of the Sword of Omens. "We will live to the fullest!"

And roared out as he drew his sword. "_Thunder, Thunder, Thunder!...Thundercats! Ho!_" His voice echoed everywhere as the red crystal in the sword flashed brightly, making appear the Thundercats symbol up in the sky.

Elsewhere, someone dropped a bone of meat half-eaten away as his eyes widened and a proud grin spread on his face when got sight of the crest that appeared in the skyline.

Slithe relaxed, waiting for the fire to finish its work. "If ... Lieutenant, do you have taste for roasted cat?"

The soldier ignored the question directing his attention to the glow coming out of the fire. "General Slithe!" He cried out pointing to the forest.

The Thundercats emerged from the flames charging toward the enemy, ready to fight. Lion-O cutting down each lizard that stood on his way. Tygra used his gun taking down one soldier after another. Cheetara handled her staff and hit five lizards at the same time. Pumyra distracted another lizard shooting at it while in movement with her wrist-crossbow coming closer and then knocking it down with a stroke. Willykat threw his flank and trapped a soldier then pulled of the string making him go down as Willykit jumped at him and tossing him with her feet.

Despite all their work, they were soon surrounded by more lizards forcing them to regroup in a single point, with lots of heavy weapons pointed directly towards them, forming a circle, back-to-back, as they waited for the lizards to shoot them.

"They're too many." Lion-O said to the others.

"We knew it would end this way, still..." Pumyra smirked not making eye contact. "I don't regret it as long as it's my King's orders."

"Right." Tygra agreed. "Even if this is the end to all of us, father would've be very proud of you, Lion-O."

"If so, I am honored to share it with you all." His brother returned smiling at others.

Cheetara smiled back and looked at the lion. "My service to the crown has always been a precious privilege."

The giant machines approached and loaded their weapons but just before they open fire, out of nowhere a shot made one machine explode. In the distance they all heard the roar of an engine and more shots coming from the same direction that took down more machines one by one, causing the lizard army to ran away in fear.

"What is that thing?" Cheetara shouted seeing another vehicle, very different from those of the enemy, rapidly approaching.

"Hold your positions!" Slithe yelled angrily. "I told you to keep your positions, you cowards!"

Then the last machine standing fired the vehicle, this seemed to disappear in a dark cloud of smoke but jumped into the air and landed without a scratch now facing the machine. The vehicle shot one more shot blowing up the machine to pieces making general Slithe and the last lizards standing run for their lives.

"Awesome!" Shouted Willykat after a moment.

Kit elbowed him and added under her voice a little frightened. "It'll be more awesome if that thing's on our side."

While the kitten said that, the vehicle stopped in front of them. "Don't make any move." The young lion requested.

The Thundercats stood in silence waiting in suspense to see the one inside the tank. The hatch slid open and a large brawny silhouette came out. One of the lizards with that stood behind felt brave or very stupid and ran up to the tank toward the figure that effortlessly knocked it out with a pair of nunchucks.

The cats stared at the stranger in amazement. At the same time, the use of such a weapon resulted surprising and kind of familiar to one of them.

"Who are you?" Lion-O asked, wanting to know if the newcomer was friend or foe.

"The name's Panthro."

.

I just couldn't resist finishing this with that cliffhanger! The first time I saw the episode it was so cool, Panthro is one of my favorite characters of all! Now, this is definitely one of the best written episodes of all, for that reason I didn't change things much but the good thing is things are going to go down differently from here. 'Old Friends' will have a new unfolding plot as I introduce the great general Panthro and a deeper take on Grune as well.

Now for the bad news; take it as a very short _hiatus, _because of work I'll have to do double shift this week and next Saturday I won't be able to update due to lack of time to write and finish in time. (Remember I write in spanish and **then **translate so it takes the double time for me.)

As a little incentive, if my story gets more reviews I might update in two weeks from here with Old Friends as a one-part chapter _or_ maybe even write it in two parts but post them the same day, I'll decide on that.

Since now I want to thank the readers for the comments and support. It's always very appreciated. Well, we'll meet again not this next Saturday but the next one. LJ out.


	5. Old Friends Pt1

At the base of a mountain a dark ship left General Grune in front of what looked like the entrance to a cave. After the ship was gone he entered. The lighting was poor but the cat managed to make his way in until his eyes made contact with a reddish blaze reflecting on his one saber tooth as he smiled greedily at the source of that glow. Grune looked up and saw the lizards Mum-Ra had sent ahead coming and going as they pushed large carts full with pieces of red crystal sparkling in the darkness.

In the woods, after scaring Slithe's group away, Panthro used the Thundertank to extinguish the fire around Briar Woods, unfortunately, by the time the general was finished his vehicle ran out of fuel, and to make things more difficult the panther had to deal with the damages taken from taking the lizards' war machines.

Lion-O and the others soon noticed how Panthro would not let anyone near his tank, throwing a threatening look at the young king if he stepped any closed to him while working on it. Lion-O walked back grumbling toward the others seeing there wasn't much that could be done to help and followed his friends to a spot on the grass so they could sleep after the long day.

Inside his mind, the young lion imagined himself feeling eager to get to know the great general, but now, witnessing the dark cat's intransigent and arrogant attitude shook that idea.

For what they knew Panthro could be as or more dangerous than the enemy after that impressive display of power from his tank.

At sunrise, Lion-O and the others woke up under the loud sound of Panthro's tools still repairing the vehicle. None of them saw Pumyra nearby and went to check up on the general's progress. As they made their way there they found the puma girl standing a few meters from the General and his vehicle. The lion was even surprised that Panthro has not eaten her alive. Seeing her apparently out of danger Kit and Kat went close to her followed by the others.

"Did you get him to say something besides grunt?" The lion asked the puma, staring warily at the general.

"Not a word." Pumyra simply replied without taking her eyes off the cat on top of the tank.

Lion-O turned from looking at her to look at Panthro impressed by the brash aspect of him but then he thought, he was the King so Panthro was his subject and so he had no reason to fear him, right?

Tygra observed his brother's hesitant silhouette and smirked. "Go on, Lord of the Thundercats." He said teasingly. "Why don't you ask your loyal subject if he needs any help fixing his tank? That is, unless you're scared." he mocked.

The lion King did not flinch at the suggestion, rather challenge, from Tygra so he stepped forward to speak up but the General had his back facing him while focused on his work. Lion-O cleared his throat and greeted him. "Good morning, Panthro."

The cats felt like laughing, seriously, the lion thought that someone like Panthro would talk back at such friendly greeting?, they thought.

Indeed, he did not respond and Lion-O had to raise his voice a bit while keeping the smile. "Hey, Panthro."

"Go away!" Panthro said. "Can't you see I'm busy?" The smile on the lion face sank into a frown.

"Oh come on, Panthro! Are you just going to ignore us forever? And what are you so grumpy about anyway?" Lion-O asked.

Then Panthro spoke dryly. "You're standing on my Samophlange."

"Uh, sorry." The young lion lifted his feet up.

Cheetara then watched silently as Pumyra approached her King but she addressed Panthro instead. "General? Don't you think we can lend you a hand with that?" She asked.

"The fact that you called the Thundertank '_that_' is your reason not to help me." Panthro answered while still fixing the tank.

"And what's _your_ reason, General?" Pumyra shot back, now a little annoyed.

The panther finally stood up and turned and looked at her in the eye. "I don't let anyone's paws to lean on my tank." Then he jumped to the ground. "Besides, the repairs are done…the problem now is not that easy to resolve…The Thundertank ran out of Thundrelium."

"Thundrelium?" Tygra spoke. "No wonder this tank has this much power! That mineral is the greatest source of power known in Thundera."

"True, but we are not even near the ruins of the city and we don't know where to get it." Cheetara commented.

"That's no mystery." Panthro said. "I'll get it from where I got it the first time." Pointing a far-off mountain in the distance. It was a tall peak, but instead of there being a top to the mountain, it looked as though it had been cut off, leaving a flat surface instead. "Now I only have to risk my hide to get more at Cloud Peak mine!"

"It doesn't have to be that risky." The cleric told him.

"Right, we'll go with you." Pumyra added but then looked at Lion-O as if waiting his approval.

He nodded. "If you're going for Thundrelium, we'll go with you." To Panthro.

"Let me put this as respectfully as I can." The general barely jerked his head to look at him. "No."

"I'm the King now, General." Lion-O stated firmly.

"Fine." Panthro turned looking at him face to face. "You slow me down or get in my way, and you're on your own." Now looking at the others. "Any questions?"

Tygra raised his hand halfway. "What's a Samophlange?"

Meanwhile inside the mine, the lizards continue with the extraction of Thundrelium under Grune's supervision. The cave was invaded by a huge complex artifact perforating the cave vertically full with big huses coming out of it and disappearing inside the holes on the mine's walls, in the center of the artifact there was some sorf of chamber like a bubble storing the extracted red crystals ready for the lizards to carry them out on the carts.

The evil General was mesmerized by the crystals as he took a hand-full of them to admire. "The lifeblood of Mum-Ra's army…and now it's under my control."

Suddenly the ground around them quivered scarring the soldiers but not Grune. From the ground a giant robot came out, its body armored with powerful black drills as its legs and arms, the robot addressed the General.

"Section four completed. Awaiting your next command, General Grune."

"Go deeper, and let nothing stand in your way Driller." Grune ordered as the robot continue making holes to connect more hoses to them to accelerate the extracting process. "In less than a day this place will be empty, Mum-Ra's forces will be unstoppable…and all thanks to me." A dark grin appearing on his face.

Putting their arguments aside, Lion-o suggested the twins to wait for them inside the Thundertank to get back with the mineral. Venturing to a mine sound exciting for the cubs but after Panthro's strict order they had no choice but stay behind. Also, they wanted to give their friend more confidence as a leader in front of the General so they obeyed the lion gladly. Snarf stayed behind with them to make them company. After checking there was no danger near the area the Thundercats began their trip to Cloud Peak mine.

Entering the jungle separating the woods from the mountain Panthro walked ahead pointing the way, to Lion-O's nuisance.

"Excuse me…General?" A female voice called behind him. Panthro looked over his shoulder seeing Pumyra walking beside him. "I want to ask you something." She said.

"If you do, why didn't you ask when I said so before we left?" Panthro snorted.

Neither said another word for a little while. From behind Lion-O watched them curiously. "I wonder what they're talking about." He muttered. What was really on his mind was, why Pumyra would want to have a conversation with the General?

"Lion-O." Tygra called him. "Do you know if she knows him from before? Maybe they're old friends or something."

The lion looked at his brother feeling confused. "I don't think so…" After all Panthro's been out of Thundera for years and the last time they saw him both were just kids, which was also Pumyra's case as she seemed to share Lion-O's age, besides he didn't know her for that long. But then something clicked in his mind as he recalled someone her and the General might had had in common.

"So, ever since you parted you haven't gone back to Thundera?" The puma asked in a low voice.

"No. But actually I was on my way there when I saw the King's sword's signal on the sky that guide me to all of you." The panther explained. "I thought Claudus might be near, but…" He left his disappointment unsaid. "Anyways, you asked about Lynx-O. What happened to him?"

Pumyra simply responded. "I don't know." Now the General turned to see her. "After the lizards left the city we couldn't find him anywhere."

"You're saying they took him prisoner?" Panthro anticipated. The female cat shook her head. "But you can't be sure now, can you?"

The blind General was gravely injured after the attacks to the watch tower were he stood, none of the enemy soldiers saw him beneath the debris, and even if they did they would've leaved him to die there. Still Pumyra and Lion-O couldn't find him after searching the surroundings before beginning their journey, so whether he was dead or not and his whereabouts were unknown.

"I was hoping you could have heard of him somewhere." The puma girl confessed.

Panthro waited before asking. "Many soldiers, if not, the entire army fell with Thundera. Why is to know about Lynx-O more important to you?"

Pumyra looked ahead as her mind traveled, not realizing the other cats cough up with them and could hear they talk. "When I was a cub my mother sent me inside the kingdom walls to prevent me from contracting a contagious disease my father contracted himself which was difficult to treat, she stayed with him to take care of him. When I arrived in the city I was taken in by a family I lived with some for time. Every two weeks the doctor sent to see my father came to inform me about his condition." Her face furrowed at that part. "He did all he could but it was inevitable that my mother also got infected. Both passed away months later. "

Lion-O and Tygra looked at each other shocked for what they just heard. Both lost their mother while they were cubs but Lion-O didn't even know her, although they had their father. But they just heard the girl lost both her parents at the same time unable to say goodbye. Cheetara, however, knew what it was to live a lonely childhood until she joined the clerics.

"I'm sorry, kid." Panthro said cutting the silence.

"Pumyra?" The young lion called with a low voice. "How did you meet Lynx-O after that?"

The puma then noticed she was talking to all of them now and proceeded. "Some time after, when I wandered out of the house on my own the other cats my age picked on me and provoked me, until one day, I stopped running and stood up to two of them. After making the older one cry both ran away but I was left exhausted and very hurt to go back home, it was then when Lynx-O found me." Without realizing it her feet stopped moving and everyone was around her paying close attention. "He with a group of soldiers took me inside the walls of the palace. I woke up in one of the soldiers' cabins and my wounds were treated and wrapped in bandages. I heard a knock on the door and Lynx-O came in…"

_"You're awake. Good." The lynx walked over the bunk and placed a tray beside the cub. "You slept all night, are you hungry?" He asked kindly._

_The little puma stared at him and then looked over the tray with food._

_"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. I'm Lynx-O, member of the King's army, as you can see you have nothing to fear, you're in good hands." He smiled. "And you are?"_

_"Pumyra." The girl answered with an even voice._

_"Well Pumyra, how are you feeling?" The soldier asked placing one hand on top of her head._

_"I don't feel any pain." She inspected her bandages and then looked at him._

_Lynx-O suggested her to eat something to regain her strength but she insisted on sharing the food with him in thanks for taking care of her. Although he wasn't hungry he agreed, always giving her the larger portion of whatever they ate while spending the morning chatting as Pumyra even told him how she came to live in the city and so what happened to her parents till when he found her stranded on the street._

_The older cat laughed soundly. "I can see you have fight in you." Pumyra jerked her head slightly to a side. "You want to know how my friends and I found you?" After a little nod from her he continued. "It was break time and we went to the market place for something to eat when two boys ran passing us crying, for a moment we thought it was a bully so we went the direction they came from and there you were. Tell me the truth, you were the one that made them cry, weren't you?"_

_The little girl confessed embarrassed staring at the floor but then she looked up. "They started it! I was tired of them being mean so I defend myself."_

_"I believe you." The soldier said calming her down. "It was two against one; sure it was all in self defense…my friend wouldn't believe me when I told them I thought it was you."_

"After that day we became good friends. But since I wasn't allowed to enter the palace he came to visit me every now and then when he got the chance." Pumyra reminisced with a fond smile.

"Yeah, that old cat's always been like that." Panthro said as he thought about the General. "At the army, soldiers usually seem rough and dangerous, compared to them he was rather soft…although I never got to see him as the army's General and it's been so long since I last saw him."

"I never met General Lynx-O but as a cleric I've got to heard he became one of the most trustworthy soldiers to the King." Cheetara said.

"Father told me he also lost his sight while defending him and the kingdom at war." Tygra added. "And Lion-O…" His gaze fell on his little brother teasing him.

Everyone looked at the young King now. "Well…" He rubbed his neck. "While I was a cub, Lynx-O was the only one of the soldiers to ever talk to me." His voice turned soft. "My father always scolded at me but he always spoke to me with a peaceful voice, opposed to the guards at the palace he was very friendly."

Pumyra smiled at the memory. "He was very kind with kids."

Suddenly Panthro saw them out of topic as they were suppose to get to the Thundrelium mine as soon as possible so he moved them on. "Alright, that's enough. We told those kids we would be back before dark and I don't see that happening unless we keep moving. Getting to the peak is just the easy part so let's go."

They continue their trip but also updating the panther about everything that happened during his absence, and how Grune returned to betray them.

"I guess that's something he does very well, ha!" Panthro said. "That traitor, more than a cat he should've shared the same species with those filthy reptiles. Lucky for you, you haven't seen him since then." He spoke to Lion-O. "You sure have a motley crew on your hands, kid. It's a miracle you survived this long without any adult supervision."

The lion glared at him. "We've been doing just fine under my command."

"More or less." Tygra whispered mockingly. Cheetara next to him shot him a mean look.

"Barely." The General spoke up. "You don't have means of transportations nor any food supplies."

"We're alive, aren't we?" The lion King shot at him.

"You wouldn't be if I didn't show up in time and blasted the lizards all the way back to their lair." Panthro responded with a cocky smirk.

Lion-O frowned and looked back at Tygra. "I don't know why you used to idolized Grune so much for back then. You seem to have more in common with Mr. Tough Guy over here." Gaining a glare from the tiger.

"What're you talking about?!" Tygra shot back in a whisper. And the cleric in the middle of it rolled her eyes at the childish display from the two brothers.

"You know he can hear you, right?" Pumyra asked to the lion. Lion-O looked worry at the General in front of him.

"Sure, you'll become a great leader." Panthro said sarcastically without making eye contact with him. "Your father, now _he_ was a leader."

"The King fought to his last breath trying to save Thundera. After that all of us who were still alive would have perish as well if it wasn't for Lion-O." Cheetara said as she remembered Lion-O recovering the Sword of Omens from Mum-Ra's hand. Panthro on the other hand didn't seem to show interest in the little feat of the novice King.

Tygra then showed his anger staring at the ground. "But Grune joining forces with Mum-Ra was, in part, what allowed them to conquer the city in such a short time." Then looked at the General. "I still can't believe it."

Panthro remained in thoughts for a moment but then he said. "Grune…when I first met him I would've not believe it either but…

_The Thunderian army was even at the moment with the lizards, with the battlefield strewn with dead soldiers from both sides. Two soldiers, victims of the lizards' flaming, carried a heavy boulder to one of their catapults, about to fire it but were blasted back by the enemy as they lied unconscious with their bodies slightly burnt._

_At the time Grune was much younger, he had brown mane of hair much smaller than it would be in the current day and he had both of his saber teeth intact._

_"Finally," A voice said. "Another cat that can pull his weight around here." A young Panthro said. He had his head shaven and with use of both eyes and no scars._

_Grune tossed the boulder to him as he easily caught it. "Name's Panthro."_

_"Grune." The saber tooth replied getting the catapult ready. "I don't know about you, but grunt work wasn't what I had in mind when I enlisted!"_

_"If you want to get somewhere better, you've got to prove yourself." Panthro said loading the boulder on the catapult. "Rise through the ranks."_

_"I don't have the patience for that." Grune said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at his target and released the catapult. The boulder went flying into the kingdom's wall, right where a group of lizards had been battling King Claudus. The wall fell 'cause of the impact taking the lizards with it, but Claudus remained standing without a problem._

_The three of them turned the battle in their favor and won forcing the few lizards left to retreat. That day, in view of their outstanding performance and victory in the field, having endured more than any other cat against a fierce enemy, the King held a celebration to decorate the two soldiers promoted now to Captains of Thundera._

_One of the clerics dressed up in their robe finished attaching a medal to the panther's chest armor and his partner said grinning at him. "Look at us Panthro, soon we'll run this entire kingdom."_

_Panthro chuckled. "You plan on becoming a lion?"_

_"No, I plan on becoming King." Grune replied pretentious._

_From that day on the two were inseparable off and on the battlefield. Regardless of the enemy to face they were never defeated, soon becoming the King most trusted warriors, to Panthro's pride and Grune's ambition..._

The Thundercats arrived their destination and hid between the high grasses, Panthro used a special scope to spy on the entrance to the mine locating two armed lizards mounting guard. Lion-O was beside him with the other three behind them.

"That's the tunnel access we have to get to." The General acknowledged putting the scope down. "It doesn't seem heavily guarded."

"Maybe we can lure them away from the entrance so we can go in." Pumyra suggested quietly keeping an eye on the guards.

"No, we can't guarantee the two of them will leave their place and there's the possibly that the one staying behind will alert more lizards in the area." Panthro explained.

"Come on, there's only two of them; I say we take them now." Lion-O ordered.

"We'll wait for darkness." The panther said and retreated with the others to a hiding place to wait for the lizards to leave.

Lion-O's eyes narrowed retaining his position from where he watched the mine's entrance. "Who's in charge here?" He grunted between his teeth, then seeing no one around he sneaked down to the lizards.

Hidden behind a rock the lion jumped over one guard and stroke it with his fist, he knocked the other guard with a kick to its face before it could react as he landed on one knee. "Ha, guess old Panthro underestimated the Lord of the Thundercats." Lion-O grinned with the two lizards lying there but as he lifted his gaze he found himself surrounded by more armed lizards than he could count.

"Whiskers!"

The reptiles came closer closing his way out.

"Surrender your weapons!" Lion-O ordered. "Please?"

"Kill him!" One of them shouted. Behind its back the other lizards flew in the air one by one being tossed out-of-the-way to Lion-O. He looked shocked at the sight of Panthro waving his nunchucks as he put them away and stored them behind his belt standing in front of a pile of unconscious lizards to his feet as the other cats arrived.

"Way to go, Lion-O." Tygra said crossing his arms; the lion shot him a look back.

"What's wrong with you?!" The panther grunted.

"Me? I gave an order, you ignored it." The young king marked. "Of following me none of this would've happened." Glancing at the enemy out of combat.

Panthro had it and was about to jump to his neck when Pumyra stood on his way. "He's the King, General." She said as though siding with him, Lion-O smiled. "As member of the army that has sworn loyalty, it means he has to be obeyed."

The grin on Lion-O's face banished completely as the puma said the second part in a dray and tactless tone. She wasn't defending him after all.

"Well, look what _your King_ did." Panthro snarled at the lizards.

"What you mean? They can't fight us." The lion assured in his defence.

"Just like these lizards came there must be many more inside, kid." The panther scolded. "Let's see how you handle that, then." He dared the lion. "You may have the _title _of King, but that's not enough to get my trust. You can have my loyalty when you can prove me you can do more with that sword than just carry it around." The young King let out a little growl.

"This was a big mistake." Pumyra anticipated.

"What side are you on?" Lion-O asked irritated.

The female cat continued to explain. "When all these lizards wake they'll enter the mine to alert the others, stealth is no longer an option so it will be impossible to reach the Thundrelium." Cheetara and Tygra looked in awe at her analysis. "The General's plan was to reduce the number of soldiers aware of our presence to get into the mine without problem. But now this has turned into a race against time to get at least some of the mineral the tank needs."

Everyone's eyes widened in amazement, even Panthro. "And you figured out his plan just like that?" Tygra mused. "You sound almost like a soldier yourself."

"Who taught you all that?" The panther asked.

Pumyra replied. "Actually, I trained to be part of the kingdom's army…"

"You what?!" Lion-O gasped.

_Years passed, and as he promised, Lynx-O, now promoted to General of the King's army for some years now, at the same time Generals Panthro and Grune were sent by Claudus in search for the Book of Omens, he kept paying visits to his little friend at the kingdom's countryside._

_"Over here, Lynx-O!" Pumyra called to let him know where she was. Now Pumyra was eleven years old, she wore her shoulder-length hair loose at the time._

_"Hello, child." The lynx greeted back, after being promoted, the poor Lynx-O suffered a war-injure making him lose his sight completely, still, on the contrary of making him weaker it made him stronger as he double his efforts since then to become better. Due to that his other senses sharpened making him fearless on the battlefield. His looks became tougher as it did his body._

_After a long lapse of time without seeing each other Pumyra allowed him to touch her face so he could see her grow, unfortunately, in doing so he also could notice other things. "You've been fighting again, haven't you Pumyra?" The blind cat asked, knowing from the signs of bruises on her face and arms after resting his hands on them for a moment._

_Whenever she tried to lie and say she didn't fight Lynx-O could tell when she was not telling the truth, for that reason the little puma just stood in silence._

_"Even before losing my sight I've seen you fighting cats in the slums, and I know they don't provoke you anymore." He said. "And… in more than one occasion you've resulted hurt." He added as he slightly pressed his thumb to her cheek sensing her reaction at the little pain of the bruise. "Don't your tutors say anything about this?"_

_"Yes…I just don't listen to them." Pumyra responded childishly._

_"So that's the way things are, apparently since I can't see you don't listen." Her friend scolded her._

_"You know I don't start the fights. I just face the bullies that think the street belongs to them and that's not ok!" The little girl protested. "Since you're not a soldier anymore no one patrols the slums like you use to." She added pouting._

_"Ah, yes. I'm afraid as a General my obligations lay on the bigger fights." The lynx said and started thinking. "I'll tell you something. How about we put all that strength of yours to good use?" He grinned somewhat mischievously._

_"Uh?" She looked at him confused but then her amber eyes widened. "You mean…"_

_"Well, it's been a while since you're insisting me for someone to train you to be a soldier; of course, you were just a cub then, but now you're about my age when I started training so…" Lynx-O said with his claws on his beard._

_"But Lynx-O, you…"_

_"What? Don't think I can train you because I'm blind?" He asked._

_Pumyra felt ashamed just by suggesting that but seeing the playful smile on her friend's face she knew he was just teasing her._

_Before saying anything, the General spoke first. "But, if we are to do this you'll have to learn that being a soldier is more than just facing the enemy. The army exists not just to fight treats but to protect and defend the King and the kingdom."_

_Pumyra nodded sharply and said firmly. "Yes, General!"_

_After that day Lynx-O took her to see and meet the King, he proceeded to tell him Pumyra's story and about her wishes to be trained to become a soldier. The General anticipated the King's rejecting to his petition since the puma was too young and there were no females in the army. But Claudus then suggested if what she wanted was to serve him and the kingdom, she could ask Jaga the Wise for training to be taken in as a cleric apprentice, if she considered herself worthy._

_Pumyra showed her respects to the King's opinion but refused since the clerics, although honorable guardians, they were to act on precise and crucial occasions and what she wanted was to fight for Thundera at all time needed, she wanted to be a soldier just like Lynx-O. The General respected that and he could see she had the potential._

_In presence of her stubbornness and seeing she had Lynx-O's support on her side, the lion King called for one of his guards to test her in combat._

_The puma was not prepared for it but either rejected the challenge. She had to prevail two rounds of three…she lost the first one quickly and dedicated the entire second round to watch and study the guard's moves, falling to the ground in the process, still, Claudus appreciated to see that the same times she fell down, she got up and fought back winning the second encounter. For the third one, her breathing was erratic and her attacks, although assertive, were not very effective. On the contrary to her opponent that even though he felt a little tired, he was bigger and stronger. In the last moment Pumyra risked all on a frontal attack costing her the final round and so the challenge._

_"So, Lynx-O?" The King acknowledged._

_"I could not see anything, but my ears heard it all." He replied._

_"Are you satisfied with the results?" Claudus asked while the guard helped the puma to her feet in the middle of the room._

_Lynx-O was aware she didn't pass the King's conditions but he was certain of what his answer would be. "Yes, your Majesty." Claudus smirked._

_The lion trusted his General's judgment almost as much as Jaga's, he always relied on him on the battlefield and that included the soldiers under him. "Very well, my friend." The lion said and both walked over the puma cub._

_The guard left the room asked by the King; Pumyra didn't dare to see Lynx-o in the face and less the large lion in front of her._

_"What's your name, young one?" He asked with a strong voice._

_"Pumyra." She answered clearly._

_"Pumyra, you don't have any kind of training and you lack of technique." Claudus began severely. "And added to that you're stubborn…" He paused. "If you can turn that obstinacy on tenacity you'll get to be a fine warrior." He smiled for the first time as she looked at him surprised. "You have my permission to train with General Lynx-O so one day you'll be tested again to be part of the Thunderian Royal Army."_

_Pumyra bowed down before her King and sworn to be worthy of the chance she was given, Lynx-O then escorted her to the exit as they walked through the garden's roofed sidewalk. The puma girl then caught the sound of clashing blades and peeped on the sound's direction._

_All across the garden on the opposite side, two young cats battled with their swords. The fact that one of them was a tiger called her attention; then she glanced at the red-maned one with the lighter fur, contrasting with the bright orange fur of the other._

_"That must be Prince Tygra training." Lynx-o said walking over his own steps as he stopped hearing his friend walking behind him. "This is the time of the day for their sword practice."_

_Pumyra saw clearly which one was the one named Tygra. "And who is the other, the lion?"_

_The lynx's brows raised in surprise. "Prince Lion-O is training with his brother? In good time!" A little laugh escaped his mouth. "Since General Panthro isn't here to watch on them the boy manages to sneak out of his lessons." Pumyra looked at him puzzled and then at the young lion. "But let's pretend I never said that." He said quietly with a smile._

_The puma stared at the younger prince a little more; it was strange for her to see both princes of Thundera for the first time. She watched as Tygra got total control of the battle while his little brother dodged and blocked his attacks the best he could, the expression on the tiger was precise and determinate, completely merged on the training, even so, the lion got her attention even more…_

_His features didn't seem to resemble those of a warrior in combat like it was in his brother's case; it was visible that against him he was in trouble. Tygra grew tired of Lion-O's lack of enthusiasm and brought him down holding his sword's tip close to his brother's face in victory. Usually Lion-O would get angry at losing to his brother and would frown at him, but this time he just sat on the pebbled floor smiling ashamedly, Pumyra saw he was talking to the other prince but she could hear anything from where she stood, then she saw him laughing goofily under Tygra's severe gaze._

_The young puma was well aware of the lions' position in Thundera, being cats of royalty for as long as the kingdom remembered, that day she saw a lion for the first time when she met the King in person. He was everything Lynx-O had told her and heard from the town. Claudus was, for sure, the biggest cat she's ever seen even bigger than her friend. Powerful in all aspects, from his appearance to his strong voice. Just by looking at him you could tell he was a leader among leaders and now that she was seeing a lion for the second time she thought it was a joke, not as an insult but as a nice joke._

_Tygra obviously wasn't Claudus biological son despise being the older prince, but at least he seemed to have his father's bearing, something impressive at such a young age. On the other hand, there she was observing the younger one that wasn't even half his father's size; his face was soft and gentle nothing like the King's and his smile was contagious. Perhaps having shown a more serious look there could have been a resemblance but for now all she saw the same in both was their fairy-red mane and teal eyes, a distinctive trail of the lion race._

_"He's kind of cute." Slipped out of her lips without notice._

_"What?" The General asked lifting an eyebrow. Pumyra shut her mouth with her hands hoping he didn't hear her._

_"I said nothing!" She blurted. "Come on, Lynx-O we have training to do." And both exited the gardens._

_To begin her training the puma girl moved on to a house of her own in the kingdom's section closest to the palace. The blind cat was highlighted for his teaching, proving how he came to be the General of the King's army. Pumyra knew how to attack despite her lack of physical strength, so Lynx-O focused on teach her other ways to defeat an opponent then using brute strength, he even trained her to use the sword and shield but she wanted to be versatile to the point to, even though it wasn't allowed she sneaked into the soldiers' combat sessions._

_Her view of the army slightly changed from that moment on, the training was arduous and even the best warriors were stuck in the medical bay and there was only one doctor and too many soldiers to treat. If things were like that in training session she couldn't imagine how it would be at war. That day she learned an important lesson. After a talk with Lynx-O about the subject, Pumyra understood not every battle is done with fists and weapons, sometimes you don't win defeating the opponent but surviving and recovering to fight another day and so she added medicine and first aids to her lessons._

_During weapon training Pumyra still didn't feel comfortable using the sword and the shield at the same time, for that reason and in search of being resourceful like her teacher in battle, she decided to try long-range weapons, but Lynx-O was not good at the bow and arrow after losing his sight so the young puma had to be self-taught on that._

_As years passed Pumyra grew stronger but more impressive was her agility improvement which outgrew her teacher's in hand-to-hand combat. Lynx-O couldn't be prouder of her and also as a healer, he even took her to treat the wounded soldiers that were unable to complete their tasks, thanks to that she realized the good she was doing and began not only treating soldiers but civilians as well._

_It wasn't until one year before the current time that Lynx-O was sent along his group to a months-long war out of the kingdom, they interrupted her training due to that. But more than satisfied with the outcomes of his teaching till that day, before the General parted, he gave her a mounted crossbow._

_All the while the army was off, Thundera lived a peaceful time and Pumyra dedicated herself more to heal than to fight. Despite not having excuses to use her new weapon, she treasured it and save it on a small wooden case._

"By Thundera…" Panthro breathed and then stood in silence.

Cheetara was the first to break it. "Incredible." She mused. "I never would've thought you were taught by General Lynx-O."

The others looked more surprised than at the start of the narration.

"You sure are full of surprises." Tygra said smirking.

Far from her intentions, Pumyra became the center of the attention and felt kind of awkward about it. Panthro saw it on her face and approached her. "I'm impressed, kid. And that haven't happened in years…but we need to get the Thundrelium so we can get out of here."

Until then Lion-O had forgotten about his frustration because of the General's attitude but his words brought that feeling back while reluctantly followed the others into the mine.

.

Finally! *phew* I'm dead…

Well now, don't you just love character's development? Bet you weren't expecting Pumyra as the first one! Like I said this will go different from here and Panthro and Grune are not the only 'Old Friends' there now, are they? So that's Lynx-O and Pumyra's story, hope you liked it. Panthro's next so stay tuned, see ya…


	6. Old Friends Pt2

_All by himself on the plane surfaces of Third Earth, hungry and exhausted, a young cat wandered against the dry wind dispirited not seeing prays near to hunt, he travelled ignorant of where his tired legs would take him, and not caring about it. The wind kept stroking his body with strength and strumming his dark brown fur, feeling its hardness even in his saber teeth._

_The Sabertooth Clan lived away from other feline races, they were not a very powerful clan despise their natural strength, but they were feared because of their savage ways, until one day a stampede of giant reptile-like creatures ran through their small valley destroying everything in its wake, reducing the number of habitants as they smashed the houses. And the survivors fought them with the idea of turning them into trophies or food but vainly since the beasts overcame them in sizes and number leading the saberthooths to an almost extinction, with the exception of one remaining survivor, Grune._

_Having walked for weeks, the young cat thought he would see his end as he found himself facing a mountain, a dead-end. Too tired to turn back, and having nowhere to turn back to, he collapsed onto the ground awaiting his end. He did realized then, that after dissipated the dirt in the air, what his eyes clouded by hunger thought was a mountain actually was the wall entrance of the city of Thundera, a large kingdom of cats, ruled by lions._

_Wagons came to enter the city and the cats on them saw the young cat lying on a side of the road and went to his aid, but at the sight of his saber teeth they carried him to a farther side and left him over a rock. After hours of being left alone there, another wagon came by and saw the cat moveless, the wagon's driver did not let himself be intimidated by his breed and carried him on the cart to take him to his home and treat his wounds and clean him up._

_It wasn't until he sensed the smell of warm food that Grune opened his eyes, disturbed by the looks of the place, he stared at his rescuer and snatched the plate with food he reached to him devouring its contents, the house owner did not ask much knowing he would be too tired for talking. The saberthooth didn't understand the other cat's kindness as he was unaware of the meaning of the action, to the point of letting his survival instinct making him believe that he wanted to hurt him since he thought why would a complete stranger be good to him. When the cat approached him with the second plate of food, Grune pounced on him and wounded him badly with his saber teeth and ran out of the house facing the crowded streets of Thundera. The citizens stared at him in awe and fear, the saberthooths were once vanquished from Thundera by one of its firsts Lords for being ruthless and uncompassionate with others, always thinking of themselves as superior to other cat races. All this, long before Grune was born which made things harder to understand for him, but he knew there was nothing outside those walls for him and on his own he would die with the time so he stood away from the entrance and ran into the slums where he lived till his adulthood, abusing of the weaker and taking advantage of the fear he inspired on them. Grune lived for many years, imposing himself demanding food from the merchants and threatening with his large sizes and strength acquired if any opposed him. At the time Grune got away with it easily and always got was he asked for, although not 'everything' he wanted._

_The sabertooth liked to be feared but soon realized he longed for more...he ambitioned with being feared but also with recognition and power. In view of what intimidation gained him he thought he could get more. Aware of being the last of his race, Grune saw himself as one of a kind and therefore he wanted to be treated as such, added to his idea of seeing others as inferior who owed him subordination. Far from wanting to rectify himself, he enlisted in the army, not for devotion to the kingdom or the King but to become who he believed was supposed to be, a leader._

"Move on, don't think you'll spend another day in here!" General Grune growled to his soldiers. "I want this place empty and the vehicles full with those crystals on their way to the pyramid before the second sunrise!"

Under his orders the lizards carried the crystals to the carts, a huge amount of them which meant an unlimited source of power.

Inside the mine's paths Lion-O and the others followed the rails with their eyes with Panthro guiding them through a more elevated path into the walls away from the lights avoiding being seen by the enemy.

"Stealth won't be a problem after all." Pumyra smirked quietly.

"Never underestimated the environment around you, soldier." Panthro smirked back.

A few steps ahead, they reached a chamber inside the cave forming a bubble half-filled with water coming from somewhere. The rails crossed over the water forming a bridge, they still not encountering lizards yet.

"Our path ends here." Cheetara pointed seeing the tunnel they were standing on ended into the wall.

"We'll have to go across the rails." Said Lion-O.

"No." Panthro commanded. "If we bump into the lizards, it'll be better they run into us and not us into them."

The lion stared at him sternly. "What do you suggest, General? We're not spiders, we can't climb through the roof."

"That might not be necessary." Tygra said pointing to the hole just ahead on the other side of the bubble that served as a pathway above the rails' path.

"Great." Lion-O let out with a snort. "And how are we gonna get to the other side?"

With a wave of his hand, the prince wielded his whip and throw it to the other side attaching it around a protruding stone above the entrance. He then turned to his brother showing off a smile.

"Now that's something I remember." Panthro acknowledged. The two brothers looked at him intrigued. "Tygra always was the brother that used his head."

That provoked a wider grin on the tiger and a steamy glare on the young lion. "Alright, come on." The later ordered with a grunt.

The cats then held on to the whip and crossed the chamber without mayor problem and continue their way deeper into the mine.

"Isn't weird that we haven't seen lizards coming out of the cave yet?" Cheetara asked.

"Maybe they're gathering all the Thundrelium in one spot to carry it out on one trip." Lion-O guessed.

"No vehicle that large would fit on these tunnels." The General corrected him.

"Be quiet." Pumyra shushed them.

After a few moments, Panthro spoke. "What is it?"

"Listen." She asked. They heard the sound more clearly underneath them; it was a metallic creaking and footsteps on the rail sleepers.

"It's the lizards; they're heading to the exit." The cleric affirmed.

"We're on the right direction, let's keep going." The panther said.

The Thundercats reached the core of the mountain guided by the sound; they stopped on the edge of the passage. Lion-O looked impressed at all the machines going in and out the holes on the walls transporting the mineral to a large belt chain for the lizards to carry out on the carts.

"I can assure you, this is enough Thundrelium to power up a thousand Thundertanks for a thousand years." Panthro said, and then he spotted the brown-furred cat commanding the lizards. "Grune…" After all those years and all that happened, General Panthro found his old friend, now, worst enemy.

_Grune and Panthro climbed through the ranks of the Thunderian army rapidly, working together and quickly form a brotherhood between them, they gain the kingdom admiration and the King's trust and also were granted the honor of becoming the princes' teachers._

_After being promoted to Lieutenant General, Panthro decided to remove his tail achieving his status as a higher ranked cat among thunderians, and to be the equal of his friend who did not have one. Now warriors with more experience, the two accompanied Lion-O and Tygra during practice with the sword in the palace gardens._

_The sabertooth had an especial interest on the young tiger and always advised him as a mentor. "Don't hold back, Tygra. You're stronger, faster, use your advantages!" He pointed to the prince_

_Tygra followed his advice and used his keen movements to make a great leap over his younger brother and topple him with an attack from the air._

_"Excelent." Grune claimed. "Now continue your training, and remember: what you cannot earn, can always be taken."_

_Although there was times when Panthro disapproved his friend's choice of words, he looked over them considering ambition was something important to achieve goals. But he didn't know how far Grune's ambition could go._

_Lion-O and Tygra moved aside at the sight of their father entering the gardens and were soon dismissed leaving the adult cats alone. Claudus approached the Generals with a scroll in his hand and addressed them. "My two finest warriors. I know what you're waiting to hear." The relaxed faces on the two cats became surprised at what came after. "I've chosen Lynx-O to be the General of the Army."_

_"Lynx-O has less experience than either of us." Grune objected resisting to say more._

_"It is the reason why I'm keeping you two together for a more important task." The King said as he unrolled the scroll which contained drawings of a book held on an eye-shaped altar surrounded by cats. "The Book of Omens, I believe it's more than a legend. It is a precious treasure of Thundera since ancient time and if anyone can find it and bring it back to where it belongs it's you two." Claudus looked at them solemnly. "I hope you understand."_

_Grune suppressed a growl and crossed his arms incensed looking in another direction. Panthro instead bowed to their King. "Our role is not to question your Majesty."_

_A few days after the promotion of Lynx-O to Army's General, Panthro and Grune were ready to head on their search for the Book of Omens. The thunderian people met at the gates to greet the soldiers and wish them well._

_"See, this isn't so bad, you're already a legend." Panther said trying to cheer up his friend._

_Grune let out a mocking laugh. "Legend!...if we return back with the book, we'll be greeted as gods!"_

_Together they ventured farther than any other cat has gone before, and thus traveled an extensive portion of Third Earth. They climbed the highest mountains covered with snow under the lowest temperatures they had ever endured. They crossed deserts and forests finding all kinds of animals and warriors._

_When they ran out of food their surviving skills helped finding the hideout of a forest beast with sharp horns and tusks coming out of his head. Panthro acted as a decoy to get him out and with Grune ambushed it and made it their dinner over the fire._

_Their journey extended for years, as the conditions worsened Panthro's arms grew covered with scars as marks of the dangers that survived so far and he wore them like tokens of survival, Grune on his hand, had to get rid of one of his saber tooth on a do-or-die situation._

_The brown-furred cat's loyalty to his King began to wane considerably as time passed, and not being able to find clues to the book's location only increased his anger, and gave him more reasons to question the orders they were given. Eventually Panthro was the only one that kept them both with the sight set on the objective, until that storming day on the giant Lily Pads forest, sheltered under one of the pads…_

_"This is a waste of time!" Grune yelled exhaling a small cloud of cold breath. "We've been out here chasing a myth!"_

_From the other side of the giant stem, Panthro sat in silence withstanding the cold. "We're out here in service to our King, our role is not to question his orders but to find th-"_

_"Don't be foolish, Panthro!" The sabertooth cut him off. "Claudus knows there's no book! He fears my ambition; this impossible quest is to rid me of his kingdom!"_

_His friend looked at him with his one eye intact opened wide. "Grune, you're talking crazy. Listen to yourself."_

_Grune did not say another Word but the thought of deception from their King did not go away. The two stopped talking about the subject as Grune saw Panthro didn't share his point of view and decided to not say anything considering having his friend against him wasn't convenient in their situation. From that moment on the panther sensed something was wrong with Grune, more than usual and that worried him. Wandering through the deserted lands the sabertooth began losing his sanity._

_The two spent the night at the sand dunes with a small fire as the only source of heat, that very night someone called for Grune._

_"Come to me." Someone who wasn't there. "The power you seek awaits you." The words in the air woke Grune getting his fur bristled._

_"What? Who said that?" The cat asked startled._

_"No one said anything." Panthro said turning to him. "Are you okay?"_

_Grune's face was now covered with sweat; he was the only one hearing that entrancing voice._

_"Come..." The voice on the air called again, this time echoing._

_"There! I heard it again." The sabertooth stood up and ran to nowhere guided by the sound. Panthro not wanting to leave him alone followed._

_The voice guided the brown cat to a dark desert till he stopped hearing it calling, Panthro insisted on turning back on their way to continue the search but Grune didn't listen. He went after his friend through a pair of peaks before losing sight of him and they looked at the other side of the peaks._

_"We've been walking for weeks, we better turn back or we'll die." The panther said._

_The sabertooth kept without listing to him and continued walking down the sand hills. "We're here."_

_His friend walked up the hill to where he was. "We're where?" He asked, the two cats were now standing in front of a big wall formed by sand and wind that prevented them from seeing beyond, but that soon dissipated revealing a huge pyramid of an ancient look to it with four pillars in each one of the four corners pointing outward._

So the General recalled the beginning of the last time he saw Grune until that moment. It only took one look at him with his own eyes to see where his madness had brought him to. One more time, the frontal attack would not be an option...for now.

"We move on my lead, got it?" Said the General in a more serious voice than usual and stepped aside to find an alternative exit from their hiding.

Meanwhile outside Briar Woods, the twins went through one of the longest days on their short lives "Geez, who would've thought obeying Lion-O would be this boring." Kat said lying on a broken log. "What's taking them so long?"

"Yeah, they said they would be back before dark." Kit said watching the skyline darkening. Snarf groaned while he stretched out his arms out of boredom.

The boy cub sat up with an alerted look on his face. "Maybe something bad happened to them."

"Don't you say that." His sister whined. Snarf looked at her and then the other. Willykit's face looked kinda concerned. "What should we do? We can't disobey Lion-O, I mean…not now, after how Panthro talked to him" She added.

Her brother crossed his arms and analyzed their situation. "But what if they really are in danger? We could be disobeying Lion-O, but also we could be helping them." He told her with a grin.

The girl cub reconsidered and Kat spoke again to back up his reasoning. "What if they need more hands to carry that thing that serves as fuel for the tank?" He explained while banging his fist with the palm of his other hand.

"Actually, considering Panthro's huge arms I don't think that'll be a problem." Both laughed at her comment.

"So, what you say?" Willykat asked. "There is still enough daylight to guide us up there." His smile widened mischievously.

Inside the mine, Panthro gave his final instructions to the other. "There is only one entry guarded with lizards, you three enter through here and take them down quick and easy, I'll go to the other side."

"You alone? Hey, wait-" Lion-O complained but the panther left their side without saying a word. Reluctantly the lion let out a big sigh. "Alright, let's make it work."

Like Panthro said, only one tunnel was guarded. Two lizards stood at the entrance of the tunnel indicating the way to a third lizards pushing a cart topped with Thundrelium to the outside. Once out of sight into the dark tunnel, Cheetara was the first to make a move and knocked the reptile with a blow of her knee to its face.

Pumyra took the opportunity and grabbed one of the crystals from the recovered cart and saved it inside her the pouch on her belt. The second lizard that entered and this time it ran into Tygra who made himself invisible with his whip and caught the soldier with a right punch that knocked it to the wall. The noises became suspicious and more lizards went into the tunnel, now in pairs. Now it was the turn of Lion-O who broke in two one of their rifles with a stroke from his sword, the weapon fired sparks and exploded in their faces pushing them back in the direction they came from.

The lizards lying on the floor brought Grune's attention to the tunnel entrance and when he looked up to the responsible the three cats walked out of the dark tunnel. His eyes soon turned to the sword in Lion-O's hand and his gaze turned malicious. "Fools, you brought the sword to me. Now you won't get out of here alive."

Then the sabertooth saw another lizard falling to the ground but from behind him.

"I'll make sure they do." Panthro said behind the evil General. "But I can't say the same about you."

"How many lives have you lost, Panthro? You've always been hard to kill. "Grune said.

"Not enough, I can be stubborn when it comes to die." His old friend replied.

The other cats watched expectant the gaze of hate between the two Generals. "Obviously this is not gonna go somewhere nice." Pumyra said staring at them.

Panthro's eyes fixed on Grune like knives. "I see nothing's changed since the last time we met."

"You mean when you turned your back on the opportunity to have power greater than any King." Grune said.

"Fool!...You're the one who turned his back on everything and everyone!" Panthro repudiated between his teeth.

_The two cats approached the pyramid, Panthro kept insisting to go back, Grune continued to ignore him._

_"Come to me." There was that hypnotic voice again._

_"He's waiting for us inside." Grune said merged in a powerful trance and began climbing the pyramid's side._

_"Who's waiting? Grune, what's going on wrong?!" Panthro demanded, all he heard in return was the sabertooth's insane laughter._

_Somehow Grune found a spot on the wall where he placed his hand and activate a secret doorway he could enter through into the structure and rushed inside, the voice growing stronger. The panther ran after him down a long hallway covered in darkness. He gave his last try asking to go back to be ignored again._

_Grune reached the main chamber, a big dark room with a round platform in the center of it and a stair going. The sabertooth went up the stairs and found the face of a sphinx carved in the wall with a little pod placed as the chin of the face._

_Then the voice spoke again. "Open it and you'll be granted the unlimited power you desire, the power you deserve!"_

_The sabertooth did as asked immediately and forced the doors partially open when a powerful force broke it completely open with smoke gushing out, then a hunched and gaunty figure, covered in bandages wearing a red cloak and hood came reeling out._

_"Mum-Ra..." Grune gasped._

_"It can't be-" Panthro feared._

_The steps of the mummy were awkward at first but soon regain an steady pace as he reached the round pond in the middle of the chamber. "Your loyalty will be rewarded. Something's been taken from me and you will help me get it back." He said and with a gesture of his hand the pond started glowing and the image of the Sword of Omens appeared over the water._

_Grune immediately agreed and offered his friend to join them and together they would rule Thundera but Panthro strongly refused._

_"What has he done to you?" He asked, realizing the sabertooth was completely out of his mind._

_"He's promised me the mean to do what I've always dreamed of."_

_"I can't let you do that!"_

_Seeing he wouldn't join them Grune turned on Panthro and fought him on the platform, the panther mostly defended himself till he left his guard down and was knocking into an abyss beneath the pyramid._

The Thundercats stepped forward between the two enemies.

"Surrender, Grune!" Lion-O roared. "You're surrounded." The other cats prepared themselves to fight.

"Stay out of this, kid. This is personal!" Panthro snarled. "I'm going to make sure you pay for what you've done, Grune...you betray me and betray your brothers!"

"I have no brothers, and now I know you never were one." Said the sabertooth with a wicked smile. "But go ahead. If what you want is revenge, come and take it."

Panthro pounced on him with his nunchucks but his opponent stopped his assault with his own maze-like weapon and connected a punch to the panther's face, seeing he let his guard down Panthro threw a punch of his own.

"Weare just gonna stand here? " The young King asked frustrated. Then the ground started shaking under their feet.

"What is that?" Cheetara asked alarming.

"The only thing you can trust, a machine." Grune said as Driller shattered the floor open. "Destroy them, Driller!" He ordered and turned to Panthro. "Until next time, old friend." The sabertooth fled towards the exit.

"Grune!" Panthro chased after him but was stopped by Driller who plowed the dirt on his way and was about to give a dangerous blow with his drill when it was ambushed by Tygra, Pumyra and Cheetara charging with their weapons against the robot.

Lion-O soon joined them and addressed the General. "Don't let him get away, we'll handle this!"

Panthro nodded and ran into the tunnel after Grune when a cart full of Thundrelium came his way at full speed, the panther jumped out of the rail before being crushed and spotted his old friend throwing another obstacle in his way.

"You don't really think those kids stand a chance against Driller, do you?" Grune shouted mockingly across the tunnel.

"Why are you running? Added to traitor you're a coward too?" Panthro shouted back and renew his chase after him; the other cat getting away.

Getting close to the bubble chamber that it was filled with water from before; a cart rolled down the rail and ran over the sabertooth tossing him aside the way.

"What on Third Earth-" Panthro mused.

Two little heads popped out of the cart and looked down at Grune. "I think we hit something." Willykat guessed.

"Yes, look." Kit pointed the General slightly stunned from the crash. "Did we hurt him?" Both jumped out of the cart and walked over him.

"Stay away from him!" Panthro warned them.

At hearing him shouting, the willies turned toward him and Grune trapped Willykit circling her with his large arm while chuckling.

"Let me go!" The cub grumbled while trying to kick him.

"Yeah, take your hands off my sister, you big bully!" Kat cried but Grune stamped him against the wall.

The walls trembled again. "That must be Driller." Grune assured. "Now the Thundercats will be burried alive!" He said and laughed insanily.

"I don't think so, ugly!" Kit grabbed Grune's hand and bit on his wrist. Panthro took the distraction and run toward them.

"You little-" The sabertooth whined and threw the girl cub away. Luckily Panthro caught her in time before she would get hurt but Grune got away through tunnel before it collapsed behind him and the exit was blocked.

"You ok, sis?" Kat asked his sister and the panther put her down, she was alright.

"What are you two doing here?" Panthro asked grumpily.

The twins looked concerned at each other and the two began firing off their explanations. "You said you would return son-"

"But we've been waiting the wholeday-"

"And it was starting to get dark-"

"And we thought something bad happend, so-"

"We didn't want to disobey Lion-O, but-"

"Hey wait…" Willykat stopped first.

And both asked at the same time. "Where's Lion-O and the others?"

Cheetara ran at full speed from one corner of the cave to the other dodging the Driller's attacks, Pumyra shot her crossbow at it before it disappeared into the ground. The robot came out from another hole and pierced through the roof of the cave, then again drilling its way down into the floor.

Tygra fire with his laser-gun but the shots seemed to slip over its armor. "We can't even scratch it!" He shouted to the two girls.

Driller then opened his drill-like arms wide and whirled swiftly on its lowed half like a peg-top, Pumyra leaped over it and fired more pellets to the head but it caused no damage.

"Watch out!" The tiger warned watching at the puma girl got caught up in one spin and was tossed brutally against the wall.

"Pumyra!" Lion-O yelled.

Tygra went to her aid and took her arm putting it around his neck. "Thanks…"She said sorely.

Cheetara ran next to them and added. "And we can't get close either."

On that moment Panthro and the Willies showed up looking in awe at the damage done by Driller, on one side they saw the prince and the two female cats and on the other side Lion-O standing in the middle of the cave.

"What's he doing?" The General wondered seeing the lion making no moves.

The young King's eyes shifter rapidly from left to right watching out for the next place where the Driller would appear, when it did it ran toward the cats. Lion-O saw it charge toward his friends and hurried after it holding the claw-shield tied to his belt while his hand reached for the kilt of the sword.

"_Thunder, Thunder, Thunder!...Thundercats! Ho!_" The sword switched from its dagger-like form into its full-length and he leaped over the robot and started a duel with it to keep it away from the cats. "Look for the way out!" He ordered them.

"Impossible." Panthro said letting show his fear. "The exit just collapsed, we're trapped here."

Pumyra used all her strength to stand on her feet by her own means; Tygra looked closely in case she would fall. "Then let's find another exit." She said.

The roof wrecked over them. "I'll search for a way out." The cleric assured and rushed into the tunnels.

Meanwhile Lion-O thrust Driller with the sword sparks flashing whenever the blades met, the robot launched its drill head toward him and the lion shielded himself behind the Eye of Thundera and the two began struggling without truce. The red crystal in the sword started glowing furiously. Driller progressed on him but Lion-O let all his strength out not backing down.

The panther looked startled at the great display from the Sword of Omens, and was impressed by the fact that Lion-O got to bring that power out of it. "It's like that time…" He recalled.*****

The cheetah returned to the cave from a different tunnel, concern showing on her face. "All the tunnels are dead-ends."

"We're gonna die here?" Willykit whined.

Driller kept his attack, the Eye of Thundera did not wane if force. Lion-O's determination gave the crystal more power and it began pushing back the enemy. "Run to the exit! I have a plan." The King commanded.

Cheetara leading them to the blocked exit and then all of them waited for his sign. Lion-O then appeared from inside the cave being chased by the robot.

Panthro then saw the way blocked and understood the young lion's idea. "Move!" He shouted.

Lion-O caught upwith them and everyone jumped to a side, Driller plunging his drill-head in the rocks exposing the exit. The Thundercats looked in relief and exited the mine through the bridge over the water. Panthro went through it with steady and cautious step making him go slower. Then the lion showed up with the giant robot still after him, its drill-like base breaking the rail sleepers on its way. The rails bent and the bridge began trembling.

"Oh no!..." Panthro saw himself in trouble looking down at the water.

Lion-O stroke one of the robot's arms and smashed it. "General, jump!"

The panther stayed still.

"Panthro!" The lion yelled again.

"I can't…I can't swim." He confessed, the young King looked at him hopelessly and turned to see the Driller.

"Just follow my lead." The lion King said and he dove into the water.

The giant robot went after him leaving Panthro holding tight to the rails wracking. On the way down, Driller ended up destroying the bridge supports and the General reluctantly fell in. Lion-O swam deeper and at the sight of the robot closing in, he moved out of its way and Driller pierced through the bottom of the bubble draining water the water completely as the suction dragged the robot into the rupture to its end.

Panthro fell into the dried floor and found himself surprised to be still alive. Lion-o avoided being dragged by the water sticking his sword into the ground, he breathed heavily while lifting his gaze and then grinned victorious at the General. Suddenly the ground started quivering and the shatter grew wider, the edge on Panthro's side broke down as he fell into the abyss.

Lion-O rushed to his aid, dropped to the ground and grabbed his arm trying with all his might to pull him up, although he didn't have much strength left and the floor beneath him weakened.

"Let me go or we'll both fall!" The panther growled.

Lion-O pulled harder and hissed. "I would never leave a cat behind, General." The floor dropped and both fell. In the middle of the air a whip wrapped the young lion's arm pulling them out of danger. The two cats hanging looked up.

"Sorry, we thought you were right behind us." Said the tiger nonchalantly pulling of his whip with Cheetara standing next to him.

Lion-O helped Panthro grabbing the whip and the cleric helped them out of there, then all met with Pumyra and cubs outside.

Once away from Cloud Peak Mine, everyone watched it collapse from higher ground, smoke coming out of the holes and the top of the mountain.

*****_Years ago, when crown Prince Lion-O was a baby, outside the walls of Thundera, Claudus led General Panthro and a group of soldiers hunting. They entered a forest of tall trees following the trail of a creature that, by the size of its tracks, it was really big. When Panthro and the King heard and saw two soldiers flying in the air they knew they had found their prey._

_The great lion and the rest of the party went to their aid and met with huge boar-like mutant creature, its jaws were just gross and worse was its breath. Claudus wielded the Sword of Omens and charged toward the beast which defended itself from the blows with its big fangs. While he kept the animal busy, Panthro leap over the head and hit it with his nunchucks, together the two intimidated and cornered the monster into a mountain, the creature let out a loud sound causing the cats to cover their ears. When it stopped, everything seemed quiet until the trees behind them began trembling and a louder roar made them turn around. Another creature of the same species but bigger and more ferocious appeared and lunged them throwing each of them to the ground. The archers shot arrows at it but failed to penetrate its thick fur. At the attacks, the beast growled and ran over the soldiers. Before that view, Claudus took his sword once again and fiercely stroke at the animal, the sword left marks on the teeth thrust, but this only infuriated it more. Using its front legs, the creature made the lion back down and quickly swung with its head. To protect himself from the attack, Claudus tried to stop it with his strong arms but the animal lifted him off the ground instead, and then Panthro stood up and went to help his King._

_The General grabbed the tail and pulled trying to bring it down but the monster was stronger so Panthro's feet fitted into the ground 'cause of the force inflicted to stop it and then climbed up the back of the creature. The lion saw his friend on the beast's head holding it by the ears in an attempt to tame it but it only made the animal stand up on its hind legs and dropped the lion._

_Panthro clung tightly so he would not fall but the move forward from the animal threw him forward and his face collided against its fangs, one of them severely rending his face. Shocked by the pain, the panther fell on the grass as blood gushed from his wounded eye keeping him from seeing where the monster would attack next._

_The King ran toward him and helped him up when he glanced behind him and so the animal charging toward them once again. Panthro felt disoriented because of the acute pain. "It's unstoppable." He said over his breath. "Escape, your Majesty. I'll distract it." And fell on his knees._

_The lion refused to leave his friend behind, he stood up and looked at the animals coming for them. He held out his sword and led the Eye of Thundera to the creature. "Thundercats! Ho!" The crystal glowed and the sword clashed with its fangs while Claudus kept it at bay, he let out another battle cry and the light from the sword turned into a powerful beam of red energy and launched that monster to crush against the mountain. He saw the small one coming to its aid, while the great lion could have end them right there, his friend's state was more important now._

_"Let's get you some help." the King said lifting Panthro over his shoulder. The General smirked at him before his vision clouded and fainted._

_When he woke up, Panthro found himself at the palace's infirmary with the right side of his face wrapped in bandages, then his friend came in. "Jaga says you will recover." The lion walked over the bed. "What you say?"_

_Panthro moved his eyes, the right one under the bandages. "It's just an eye..." He replied wearily. "I can still see fine with the other."_

_"I cannot thank you enough for what you did, General." The King said._

_"In the end, you saved me." Panthro replied and felt the lion's hand on his shoulder._

_"I never leave a cat behind, my friend."_

"That'll slow down Mum-Ra's forces for a while. In the end they couldn't get the Thundrelium out." Lion-O said staring at the mountain.

"Neither did we." Panthro added.

"I wouldn't say that…" Pumyra told them taking the crystal she took before from out of her pouch. Everyone seemed glad to see the one piece of the mineral on her hand.

Kit and Kat blinked intrigued. "You mean _that's_ the Thundrelium stuff you all came here to get?" The little boy asked and the two brought more of the red crystals out of the many pockets of their clothes forming a little mound on the ground.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at them. "When did you get all that?" Cheetara asked them.

"When we came to the mine." Kit told her.

"The wagon we were on when we hit that ugly guy was full of them." Her brother added.

"Yeah, they were so shinny, so we took them." The girl cub smiled.

Pumyra rubbed the boy's head. The twins giggled. "Ah, that's what we do." Kat smirked while Lion-o smiled at them.

"Well, one single crystal will power up the Thundertank for months, so with all this here we won't need another mine for a long time." Panthro said in relief at their problems ended, his face turned more serious then and addressed the young lion. "What you did back there in the cave, now I see your father's sword ended up in the right hands. He was a great cat and I served him proudly…You can expect the same."

Lion-O then smirked at him and asked. "So, you think once we get the Thundertank fixed I can drive it?"

"Not a chance…" Panthro smiled back. "_My King_."

.

*phew* Twenty minutes before midnight. After a long weekend I got kinda lazy at the start of last week, I'll try not to let it happen again. So now I just wanted to point out a few things about this chapter, just little details. First in the Original Series Grune's been always a Thunderian, his great-grandfather even got to be Lord of the Thundercats which once I remember that I thought it was unbelievable (not in a bad way, thought I never liked Grune since he's a pretty bad guy). I gave him a different origin, coming from an exiled race (sounds familiar?) but living since his teen years as a rogue in the streets of Thundera. I also rushed in the fact that Panthro is hydrophobic (that was by accident lol) And if anyone asks, it was left unsaid but the Willies left Snarf sleeping back in the Thundertank…

Now I can say I'm excited 'cause I'm going to write one of my favorite episodes of the New Series: Journey to the Tower of Omens, it's going to be an awesome teamwork development for the Thundercats! Till next week then…


	7. The Tower of Omens

Hello readers, I wonder if at this point it's worth I apologize to you but truth is that I really am sorry for making you wait and really **hate** all this delay. Things with the computer only went from bad to worse, let aside the guy that was supposed to repair it took a lifetime doing so...the only good thing is that I didn't lose the work I had so far and I was able to go from there, still I'm not writing on the same computer I used to and that bothers me very much.

I have a lot to do to catch up with this and I will the fastest I can. Thanks for the reviews and support.  
_**sonicfighter21354**_: If your messages are not answered it's because I didn't have my computer fixed.

In fact I was without a computer for three weeks and now I'm without internet because the problem is now on the router/modem.

.

The Thundercats arrived at the place where they left the Thundertank and got inside. They found the rear closed but it was no problem as they all stayed in the main bridge were they would get some rest, but not Panthro as he headed to the driver's sit in the next side cabin caring the sac with Thundrelium with him, Tygra followed him behind to the cabin.

As soon as he caught sight of him, Snarf jumped off the spot he was resting on and jumped over Lion-O looking very happy to see him as he robbed his little head against the lion's chin. "Ha, it's good to see you too Snarf." The young cat said to his pet as he placed him back on the floor and went to his own sit.

Pumyra and Cheetara sat at both sides of a broader white couch across the young King while Kit and Kat sat on the floor and told Snarf of their adventure at the mountain. "Now that we've got the Thundrelium, what's the next step?" The puma girl asked.

"With a mean of transportation it'll be easier to find the Book of Omens. I think now is our best chance to resume our quest." Cheetara said with the other cats looking at her. Then everyone hear the sound of the engine roaring.

"Great! Panthro got the Thundertank moving." Lion-O Said exited until the movement of the vehicle stopped and his smile was gone. "Now what?"

"Don't worry, Panthro is just testing we placed the crystal correctly and he'll get us out of here." Tygra said coming out of the cockpit looking for his sit next to his brother.

Right after, the panther piped his head out of the little room. "Sorry kids. For I'm only getting us out this moorland and find a safe spot to sleep. After that little dive I really could use the rest."

"You don't like water, Panthro?" Willykit questioned tilting her head.

Panthro's brows trembled slightly and his face frowned. "I don't. Like it much." He then shot a look at Lion-O and pulled his head back into the cabin.

After a moment in silence the tank started moving again, and Tygra continued to tell them. "The General said the tank has four rooms in the back. One of them is his and it's no surprise that just like the wheel he doesn't want anyone near it." And he switched to look at Lion-O. "I was thinking we should leave the empty rooms for the girls, and the kids will share one room without a problem."

"What about you two?" The puma girl asked.

The young lion crossed one leg over the other and commented. "Well, after I saved his life I don't think Panthro will have a problem giving his room

to _his _King. What you think?" He bragged and addressed his brother. "That would leave you, Tygra to sleep out here."

The two female cats exchanged looks and then looked at the prince. Tygra's eyes narrowed toward his younger brother and he then turned it into a laid back expression. "No problem at all, go and ask Panthro to leave you his room." Showing the door to the cockpit to him.

"I think I'll just do that." Lion-O got up and went into the next room with the others gazes following him. Less than a minute later he emerged glaring and said in a gloomy voice. "Tygra and I are sleeping out here."

Tygra just smirked seeing the defeat on his face and the kittens fought to keep their laughter as quiet as possible.

Cheetara's face relaxed and said. "We are all exhausted, and to sleep here could be kind of uncomfortable." Then turned to the young female next to her. "If there is no objection, Pumyra and I can share one room and you two can share the other."

"It's fine by me...but them..." The end of that sentence trailed dimly out of the puma's mouth

"Sorry." Tygra said flat. "We never shared rooms, not even as cubs and I'm not starting now." Pointing at Lion-O who just narrowed his eyes at him.

"Right, and what? We leave Panthro be the only one with his own room?" The lion whimpered.

"He _does_ own the tank, Lion-O." Tygra said with his brother arms-crossed looking at him.

Around an hour later, the Thundertank stopped inside the dense jungle out of enemy sight. Panthro came out of the cabin and walked across the bridge to the rear leading the others to their rooms.

The Thundercats followed him and opened the rooms' doors. All of them were exactly the same, metal cubes with a little window letting in some of moonlight and a one-person-bunk. The girls soon realized it will be difficult to share a room between the two. Cheetara looked at the brown-haired cat sheepishly and shrugged, while Pumyra crossed her arms and turn to see Lion-O next to her with a boring look.

He got the meaning of that look and said. "You really need to get this tank bigger, Panthro."

Before entering his room, Panthro approached the lion and looked into the cube they were all staring at. "Yeah, sure. After we find the Book of Omens and defeat Mum-Ra." Said nonchalantly and went to sleep.

The puma took the room next to Panthro in front of the twins' room, and the cleric the room beside theirs. Lion-O and Tygra walked back to the bridge and slept on the couch with Snarf.

The next morning started with so much to do, Lion-O needed to put all of his mind in finding the Book of Omens but there was something important missing. "Now. How am I suppose to find a single book in the middle of the planet?" The young lion questioned frustrated.

The other cats watched him sitting over the Thundertank. "Don't look at me." Panthro told him. "I can only take you to where it is not."

"You're the Lord of the Thundercats, Lion-O" The tiger pointed out. "It's your job to get a lead where to start from, only then we can be of some help...I suppose." He added a bit mockingly.

The kittens lied over their bellies thinking, Kat then asked raising his head. "If that book is so important, shouldn't there be a map somewhere?"

The adult cats looked at each other until Cheetara spoke. "There is no map." The twins heads fell in disbelief.

"Yeah, when Grune and I started the quest all we had was a single image of the book, but no map."

Anticipating the cubs' next comment Pumyra said to all of them. "Then we don't even have somewhere to start from." And crossed her arms reluctantly.

At the comment the cleric 's face drew a conniving smile. "Actually, we have a lead." And looked directly at Lion-O. "The Sword of Omens can help you find the book and its location."

"It can?" The lion asked. Then his expression changed. "You're right. It did once, and it showed me Mum-Ra..." He made a little pause and added in a lower voice. "Jaga called it, _Sight Beyond Sight_."

"The sword can really do that?" Pumyra questioned.

"It can, let's use it." Asked Tygra demanding. "If the sword showed you Mum-Ra once, it can do it again."

The puma girl opposed the Prince's suggestion saying..."Right, only this time try it to show you the Book, and not Mum-Ra." The kittens sitting next to her giggled.

Lion-O looked unconvinced at the sword wielding it out of the claw-shield. His eyes fixed on the Eye of Thundera, inside he wasn't sure if he could make it work, on the other side he didn't want to look bad so his brother could make fun of him in front of the others. So, he remembered the first time he saw through the sword guiding the kilt before his face with the red j between his eyes.

"Sword of Omens: Give Me Sight Beyond Sight!"

Lion-O's eyes began to glow of a blue mystic-like color and a cat's eye appeared in the crystal and a bright light flashed beyond his sight trying to project something but all kept in black. The lion looked bewildered. "Okay, let's try this again." Whispering over his rasping breath. "Sword of Omens: Give Me Sight Beyond Sight!"

Only to end up with the same result. "Come on, work!" He roared. Meanwhile the other Thundercats witnessed the scene, watching the young King invoke Sight Beyond Sight for the fifth time.

"This could take a while." Pumyra sighed resting her chin on her hands.

"You gotta be kidding me." Panthro commented. "Now being serious. Is it really our only chance to find the Book of Omens to expect his sword to give him directions?"

"Is about as hopeless as it sounds." Tygra answered humorously.

Cheetara turned to see them. "Lion-O can get us there. He just needs to believe in himself...It would help if you believed in him too." She directed the second part mainly to the tiger, with her eyes serious on him.

To the prince it wasn't so nice to see the endless trust the cheetah put in his brother, and that just made him remember that moment when he caught her presumably watching over him closely in secret. Tygra then turned his attention to the lion with the sword with a cold gaze. Something about the way Cheetara looked at Lion-O really frustrated him, but he wasn't about to confess that anytime soon.

In a faraway location, inside the walls of Mum-Ra's pyramid, the evil demon rested on his throne as he thought about Grune's report from Cloud Peak Mine. Of course, the report said the Thundercats were apparently trapped inside the mountain, but Mum-Ra was completely sure it wasn't that way, and he knew because of the Sword of Omens. Although he was sure Lion-O was unaware of its full potential, Mum-Ra knew that as long as he had it the sword would be his tool of escape whenever he needed it...and he had a certain_ lion_ to blame for it.

Anyhow, knowing the cats would be searching for the book as he was, Mum-Ra guessed the Lord of the Thundercats would try to execute Sight Beyond Sight and he had all his bets on that that could represent a problem for the inexperienced King.

A malicious grin appeared on his ghoulish face as he said to himself. "That sword...is nothing but a rock in your incapable hands." His voice hushed into the darkness of his chambers. "But that stone, your so-called Eye of Thundera will be mine again. I wrenched it from a far more powerful grip than yours, Lord of the Thundercats..."

_Ages ago, the pyramid's main chamber was markedly different compared to its current appearance, having machines plugged into the statues representing the Ancient Spirits of Evil. The abyss under the platform of the pond did not exist and in its place there was a holographic screen. Back then, Mum-Ra, the Ever-Living awaited for the next transmission from his Captain. His powerful-bulging arms were folded over his massive chest. His red eyes gazing at the red display of the world that his fleet was now invading. To his right, a cat, a lion, with long red mane and long sideburns also watched in silence. Then the display shrank and soon showed Tygus, Captain of Mum-Ra's air force, the 'tiger soldier was wearing a mechanical device over his red eye._

_"Our ground forces have reached the cannon Lord Mum-Ra." The tiger said._

_"Destroy anything that keeps you from the War Stone captain Tygus!" Mum-Ra ordered with a malicious smirk._

_Above the red planet was Mum-Ra's fleet of cruisers, Tygus flew his Feline Fighter between them skillfully heading into the planet's atmosphere. He narrowed his eyes as he came into the pink-colored clouds and swerved his fighter away from a powerful laser attack. He activated the boosters hearing the screams of other animals as the laser destroyed them, he still focused on the objective, a giant structure housing a massive cannon powered by the War Stone. He then saw the fire of lasers from the anti-air turrets; he maneuvered his ship carefully dodging the barrage and landed at the base of the structure after activating the autopilot. The canopy opened and he jumped out as his ship passed the structure. The native aliens guarding the cannon charged toward the threat; Tygus pulled out his laser pistol and fired at them heading for the power conduit. He blasted the last one and he ran to the top where the stone was held._

_The conduit had two extractor nodes and between them was a large red crystal that gave a ringing hum. Tygus removed the crystal and it reshaped itself into a red cubic jewel. Once the stone was removed, the planet lost its source of power immediately and it began its auto-destruction process as the captain and his float flew away back into space._

_From his ship, Mum-Ra watched as Tygus reappeared on the view screen. "We have procured the War Stone, Lord Mum-Ra," Tygus said holding the red crystal in his hand. Mum-Ra uncrossed his arms and held up his hand._

_"At long last it is mine!" He snarled._

In current time, Mum-Ra repeated that motion as stated. "And it will be mine again!" Mum-Ra rose from his chair and walked to the sphinx face behind him, the sphinx's chin opened letting out bandages that grabbed the mummy and brought him inside. The walls around the face retracted back, revealing that the Sphinx was part of some kind of vehicle similar to the Thundertank. This turned and went down a passage. The vehicle came out of the exit flying through the air and landed speeding away in a cloud of sand as he headed toward Slithe and his army.

Panthro was about to fall asleep when he noticed the other cats next to him watching as the cheetah of the group left her seat and walked away to where their King stood.

"This is dumb! I don't even know what I'm looking for." Lion-O protested toward the sword which was not being a very good help finding the book.

"Sometimes when you look to hard, you miss what's right in front of you." Cheetara replied as she approached him. "If you can master Sight Beyond Sight, it'll show you what your eyes can't see. But your mind has to be open." She gently grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him so he would be turning his back on her and proceeded close to his ear. "Now try again, and this time relax."

From the Thundertank Tygra's eyebrows knitted at their closeness. Surprisingly for him, it was Pumyra who broke the silence. "Don't you think she's a little too close?" Her words came out like rocks rolling and crashing into the river from her mouth.

Panthro quickly answered. "Nope."

The tiger replied simply with..."Yes." The General and the kids looked as if something _bothered_ these two about the almost _none-existent _ space between the lion and cleric.

"She's probably telling him a secret." Kit commented knowing no one would believe that.

"Why? Does it bother you?" Her brother asked, his brows half down and showing a mocking smile. The panther had to suppress a smirk as he saw what the kittens were doing.

Pumyra shot the siblings a mean look while Tygra preferred to ignore them and said. "He better be concentrating on finding that book."

From inside, Pumyra would've said that is was Cheetara the one that was dangerously close for her taste but she really wanted the matter to stop and said nothing. Meanwhile Kit and Kat wanted a little more fun and sneaked toward the other two cats.

Willykat climb the nearest tree and watched Lion-O looking somewhat uneasy as the cleric was watching him intently, now at some distance. "Hey Lion-O, whatcha doing?" The cat-boy surprised him by hanging from a branch over his head.

"Ooh, I know what they were doing." Kit said smooching in the air.

Cheetara had to smile at their childish comments and giggled at their games making look Lion-O even more awkward than before.

"Of course not." The young lion assured them and added stuttering. "We were just trying to get, my- sword- to work."

"Why is so hard to find anyway?" Kit asked him. "It's not like it can run and hide somewhere."

Kat walked over her and said. "Maybe they forgot where they put it."

"In a way, yes." The cheetah told them. "You see, the Book of Omens wasn't lost, rather, it was hidden with the intention that it would never be found. Legend says the book held both, clues to past and keys to our future. Because some believed it could be even more valuable than the Sword of Omens, the other animals would stop at nothing to get it. The King knew it contained too much power to allow it to fall into the wrong hands, so we had the clerics to hide it far beyond the kingdom walls, far beyond any where the cats has ever been. They built a temple to keep it safe, one made with magic, the Tower of Omens was inaccessible to anyone but themselves, then they sealed themselves into the temple forever." As she got to the end of her story the other Thundercats came along. "Its location would be a secret they took to their graves."

"Maybe that's why Grune and I could never found it." Panthro said.

"Coming from you, I suppose you mean we'll never find it either." Tygra said letting out huff.

The puma girl waved her head looking around. "Have anyone seen Snarf?"

Lion-O by instinct looked upwards. "He's just hungry." Pointing at his little sitting on the branches of a fruit-tree and pulling from a bunch of its fruits. "Why not grab some for us and have lunch?" He asked.

"How can you think about eating?" Tygra glared at him. "Right now you must get the sword to help us find the book or we'll never find it."

After he said that Snarf pulled once more, more forcefully this time and the fruits fell from the hanging roots revealing a large door made of stone with a lion's head carved on it.

"Maybe we just did." The lion smiled. "Good work, Snarf." He congratulated the little feline and proceeded removing the roots and branched blocking the entrance.

"How did we not see that?" Cheetara asked in awe.

"Well, I guess sometimes when you look too hard, you miss what's right in front of you." Lion-O said with her own words.

The blonde cat smiled at him. "See? You are a fast learner."

They then walked into a large room with a single door, and only a narrow bridge over a sharp-spikes covered floor to get to it. The kittens looked down at the spikes and gulped in fear.

"You two stay close." Panthro ordered them walking at the back of the line.

Lion-O reached the door and pushed it but it was closed. "There has to be a key somewhere."

"Actually, they're everywhere." His brother said pointing to the many keys hanging from the roof.

"You're kidding, right?" Panthro grumbled. "This will take forever."

"In that case, the sooner we start the sooner we'll find the right one." Said Cheetara and used her bo-staff to get some keys to try on the door.

As she tried with the first one, Pumyra was finding that place less and less safe by the minute. "I don't like this place..." She murmured and the cleric turned the key. But instead of getting the door open, the passage they were standing on began regressing itself toward the door.

"And it just got worse." Tygra told her looking back.

The thunder kittens and Snarf were closest to the end of the bridge and ran to the others. Before the bridge disappeared beneath them Panthro jumped first and managed to clench to the edge of the door frame. A he did the other Thundercats jumped to but with nothing to grab on but Panthro himself.

Thus, Kat was holding from the panther's neck, Lion-O clung to his wide belt while Cheetara grabbed Panthro's leg with Kit grabbed to her waist. Leaving Tygra hanging from Lion-O's ankle with one hand, holding Snarf with the other and Pumyra with her arms around his upper body.

With all that weight it was a matter of seconds before Panthro let go and all of them ended up embedded in the spikes below.

"Whiskers."

"By Claudus! Go find that key!" The General grunted trying to hold on.

"It's ok, we'll handle this." Willykit said climbing through Cheetara's back and then Panthro's

"Leave this to the masters." Kat boasted and jumped on his sister shoulders facing the door lock while she stood firmly in the Panther's face.

Hurry! Panthro's not gonna resist much longer." Pumyra yelled feeling the most uncomfortable from where she was.

"Yeah, there's hundreds to pick from!" Lion-O advised them.

"Why waste time picking out a key?..." The girl-cub said.

Kat took his Flank and introduced it in the keyhole. "When you could just pick the lock." He grinned after the sound of the door opening. The puma girl was the first to climb up from the bottom and jumped to the other side of the door, followed by Tygra with Snarf. Then Cheetara jumped too and Lion-O at the end helped her to grab Panthro by the arms to help him up.

"That was close." The young lion said in relief and then looked ahead. "The book could be just beyond that wall, come on." They were now facing a six-walls tunnel.

The General was the first to step forward, accidentally stepping on a hidden switch. A wide metal blade swung from above through the wall inches from his face about to cut him in two, luckily Cheetara was fast enough to pull him back in time. "Actually, this is only the beginning." She said to Lion-O's words getting everyone's attention. "Legend says the ancients went through a series of obstacles near the temple. The clerics designed them to keep intruders away and the book undiscovered."

"You mean we'll die before we can get to the book?" Panthro asked in concern.

"Not necessarily." She answered. "You see, this traps were settled by the very clerics, which means..."

"A cleric can go through them." Tygra cut in implicating that Cheetara could cross to the other way. In fact, she can.

"I'm not sure if I can get through all of them..." The cheetah said looking toward the tunnel fielded with spinning razors on both each side of the path. "But this one I can." She then turned and smiled at the prince in thanks for his confidence in her and readied herself to run.

Pumyra and Lion-O analyzed the trajectory to the other end of the way and the spinning speed of the razors...there was almost no space between one another. The blades spun so fast that it was hard to see an opening.

"You think she's fast enough?" The puma asked the tiger.

Tygra was focused on the cleric ready to go for it and replied. "I know she is." And with that Pumyra went back to watch.

Cheetara managed to jump through the first ones one at a time trying to see a pattern on them but there was none so she decided to use instinct instead of strategy to sort them, the problem was there was little space to step on between them and a blade got to slice a few inches of her hair and so she focused on the precision of her leaps. Almost getting to the end another razor swung forward from nowhere but spinning horizontal instead of vertical like the others.

If it were another cat, it would already be sliced in two but the cleric senses were on in the task at hand, and swiftly she bent her buddy backwards until seeing the blade soaring over her head before reaching the end of the tunnel sound and safe. She then used her extensible staff to touch a double switch at both sides of the tunnel making the razors stop and retrieve back into the walls leaving the pathway free at the same time a rock behind her slid to a side leaving the open.

Her friends soon joined her at the other side and passed next to her. "Nice work!" Lion-O complimented her. Tygra stood next to her as they shared a look and a smile. Cheetara waited until they were on the other side and removed her staff letting the door close behind them.

Not so near the cats whereabouts, Slithe was having a hard time following Jaga's indications to the tower. "Stop fooling around! You're making us go in circles!" The lizard protested.

"Nonsense. Mum-Ra's spell is too powerful for and old wizard like me to fight. I can only light the way." The jaguar assured.

The General lifted the lamp where Jaga was imprisoned over his head about to through it and smash it to the ground when the _Storm Charger_, Mum-Ra's personal transport, came out of the blue into the woods. The gate opened letting out a thick cloud of dust and its driver. "Careful, General. That lantern is as fragile as its withered and duplicitous navigator."

"Master, he doesn't know the way to the temple, he's simply toying with us." Slithe hissed.

Still, Mum-Ra didn't seem discouraged at all. "His mouth lies, General Slithe, but his soul reveals the truth. The book's location has been pass down through the head clerics for generations, he knows _exactly _ where it is." Said with a smile and presided to torture the lamp's prisoner the way he did before with powerful lightings.

"Force me all you want, but Lion-O will have that book long before you reach the temple." The cleric dared groaning the hooded demon before disappearing into a ball of light pointing the way for them once again.

The wicked smile in the mummy's face widened as he picked the lamp up. "In that case, I'll just take it from him." He paused. "But it will not came to that." Then he referred to the lizard. "You and your army will remain here. Your ineptitude has cost me enough already!" And proceeded on foot settled on taking the matter on his own hands.

Meanwhile, things didn't move very forward for the Thundercats. "How much more do we have to walk?" Kit asked.

"I don't see any doors anywhere." Pumyra said looking around.

Cheetara looked back to the path they came from and then to Lion-O. "A dead-end?" She inquired.

"You're the expert, you tell me." He said sheepishly.

The way got only darker from where they were standing. "Let's turn back and see if we can find another way." Tygra suggested.

"No, wait...I see something." His brother said pointing at a small spot of light on the other end. "It's the exit, follow me!"

The other cats followed him but as they did Pumyra noted the floor was less rigid as they walked forward. Before the female cat could warn them, the floor collapsed from a side and they all fell by the stone slide, screaming all the way down until falling into a cubic chamber of green colored stone.

Everyone felt very sore from the fall but the louder groaning came from the tiger. "Could the two of you get off of me?" He asked to the twins who fell on his back safely.

"Sorry." They said both and jumped off.

The Thundercats where looking at the next trap, the chamber seemed to have no way in or out, since the slide that brought them there went back to its position being now the roof over them, the only unusual thing was the opening near the ground's level on the front wall of a size slightly larger than one of the Willies.

"Hey look! There's an opening!" Kat said and bent down to see. The other side had a little bit more space but no exit. "There's nothing there." He said crestfallen.

"Let me see." Willykit asked his sister and lied down on her back sticking her head out through the slit on the wall, the other side, although higher, was definitely narrower than the space in their side and it had a row of little stone-shaped heads from top to bottom on each side of it. On the ceiling there was a plate much like the switch Cheetara pressed before to exit the tunnel. "I can see a switch. Maybe it can get us out of here." Kit said happy and crawled all the way to the other side. She noticed she could jump on the wall separating them back and forward to reach the top but as she pressed herself to the wall ready to jump, flames spilled out of the stone heads. That only made the obstacle more difficult for her reducing the space to move. Also, her hand that was resting on the wall near one of the heads got burned by the fire.

The Thundercats heard the cub letting out a scream. "Kit, what is it?!" Lion-O yelled concerned.

Latter the little girl came out holding her burned hand refraining the tears. "The walls just started spitting fire." She simply explained.

"Panthro was right. This place is going to kill us." Lion-O coursed looking at the wall Kit came from.

"Sis, your hand." Kat marked pointing at it.

"Yeah...it was an accident." His sister told him.

Pumyra knelt quickly next to her. "Let me see it." And hurried to treat the burn.

As she did, Willykat stood up. "Ok, I'll go!"

"No, you won't." The puma snorted, the severe sound in her voice stopped him from taking another step.

"It's too dangerous." Cheetara added while everyone stared Kit's wounded hand. None of them wanted any of the cubs to get unnecessarily hurt.

Pumyra let go of the girl-cub's hand and lied down on the floor and peered at the other side of the opening like Kit did. "She's right, it's too small...But the switch is up there, we have no choice."

"What're you saying?" Lion-O questioned, not content with what she was implying. Right after, Pumyra felt a tug on both her arms and was pulled out of there by the thunder kittens.

"Don't do it." Kit pleaded her.

"You could get burn." Her brother added worried. The puma's gaze softened seeing their fear.

"Not many of us can fit through that hole." She told them with an even voice and she made very clear neither of them was going back in there.

Then Lion-O thought maybe someone with Tygra's _skills_ could be agile enough to jump through the fire lines without touching them, but as soon as he also knelt and watched the little space in there and between the spitfire heads it was obvious someone with Tygra's _sizes_ could not fit in there.

"We can't be trapped here forever." The tiger acknowledged.

The same time Lion-O got his head out of the slit Cheetara came closer to Pumyra and the twins. "I already got us through the first trap...now is her turn." And Pumyra stood up.

"I'm not trying to-!"

"I know." Cheetara assured her at ease and rested a hand on her shoulder. "But I've seen you in battle with us, and I know you have what it takes to make it."

The brown-haired cat then understood. Indeed, Pumyra had shown to be, maybe the most agile of all of them. Of course, the cheetah knew the Willies were very agile also, but putting them on risk was out of discussion and everyone agreed.

The puma nodded in thanks to the cleric and the cubs let go of her hands. She was already lying on the floor when Lion-O knelt down an asked her. "Be careful, Pumyra." In that moment she tried to ignore the little flip inside her chest and concentrate completely on reaching the switch.

While they waited Cheetara approached the lion. "Back there, you didn't ask me to be careful." Lion-O did not see the teasing smile on her face then as he tried not to look at her. He didn't get she was talking about the other female and not herself.

Soon the young King started to feel uncomfortable. "Well, that was 'cause- uh...you ran too fast before I could, tell you..." The words coming sloppy out of his mouth.

Behind them Panthro already sat on the ground, Tygra rested on his shoulder against the wall with his eyes knitted at his brother acting all awkward next to the Cheetah. Meanwhile, Pumyra pressed her body against the wall and again the flames came out, it was useless to try to stop them as she had to touch the walls to climb up, although, at the same time, she could see the trajectory of each line of fire and the way where she could pass through. She fist jumped between two fire lines, the next one went diagonal so she looked for the wider side to reach. She made it and clutched her claws to a little groove on the front wall before falling. Soon she started to feel the heat around her but did not let it to interfere with her mission. Pumyra kept leaping through the fire twisting her body like a real cat twirling to avoid the flames until she was almost reached the ceiling, unfortunately the top was protected by three lines of fire forming a net where she could not go through. Putting all of her strength in her claws she held herself to the little slits on the wall but the heat was making it hard to keep herself hanging up there, she saw no other option and stretched her free arm between the fire and luckily reach the switch.

And she did it. The wall separating them quickly rose up combining the two spaces into one bigger chamber, also, the spitfires turned off. With no wall keeping them from seeing to the other side the Thundercats looked at the puma girl attached to the wall near the ceiling and jumping down to land on her feet and then on one knee. Behind her a new door opened, this one had stairs that seemed to go upwards.

"She did it!" The kittens cheered.

Cheetara and Lion-O came to aid her and check if she was alright. Her breathing was a bit uneven and difficult but she was ok. "Yes, you did it." The cleric smiled.

"Are you ok?" Lion-O asked her and both gave her some space.

"Yes, I just need some air." Pumyra answered and rejoined with the others.

"We better get going, before the trap reactivate itself." Tygra motioned to the stairs and the twins followed him through the steps.

"Again?" Panthro looked distraught.

"Yes." The cleric explained to him. "We're not destroying the traps, more like going through them but they will remain intact to keep the way safe."

The Thundercats exited the cubic chamber hope that was their _last_ obstacle...

.

But we all know it won't be that way. So here we saw Cheetara pass the _metal_ trap and Pumyra the _fire_ trap. And we already know Panthro will go through the _water_ trap..anyone sees a pattern here?

The next chapter won't be for this Saturday but it'll be hopefully up in less than 7 days, till next time!


	8. Showdown

The cats exited the tunnel to find themselves inside another chamber. "Are we ever going to see the sunlight again?!" Lion-O complained.

"Hey look!" Willykat called and stepped forward in front of a waterhole in the middle of the floor. Kit joined him quickly and both peeped into it to see the bottom of it was filled with golden coins. One of the walls let in a little ray of light that pointed down at the coins which reflected the light back up to the opposite wall and into the eyes of a lion-stone head. "Look at this, guys. We're rich!" Kat said excited and reached for the coins.

"You don't think-" Tygra wondered.

"Kat, wait!" His brother shouted but it was too late.

As the cub touched the water, the waves he created distorted the light's course leaving the head's eyes, as soon as soon as that happened, the eyes suddenly shone of bright red and water began coming out of the head's mouth. The liquid came spurting and the room didn't took long to be half full with it, the Thundercats hurried and climbed to higher ground and jump into the stone plates there was on the walls, but there was no way out up there either.

Lion-O looked around and saw all of his friends safe for the short moment except one of them. "Oh no." Panthro stood behind, better said, below as he couldn't move any farther.

"What is it, Panthro?" Willykit asked the cat sitting tightly against the wall; his face frowned while holding his knees against his chest. "Ah right, you don't like water..." She recalled.

"It's not _just_ that, kid." The panther stood up still holding onto the wall behind him. "I can't swim!"

His words made the little girl's eyes widened.

"We have to do something quick." Pumyra said as the water was already above her knees and the room was now half-full.

Tygra then noticed a little gate. "There's an exit!" Pointing at it as Cheetara swam next to him. "We'll wait for the water to rise and float up to it." The prince advised the other. In the meantime, the cheetah tried to get it open by herself.

"I can't open it from this side!" She worried.

The water kept flowing and Panthro was having a very hard time trying to stay afloat until he saw it was useless. "I ain't gonna make it-" The General sank to the bottom.

"Panthro!" Pumyra yelled and at the same time Lion-O submerged after him. He swam down but even so Panthro was disappearing from his sight as he sank deeper, half way down the lion started running out of air and was forced to swim back up.

"Panthro's gone..." Lion-O said shocked to his friends.

But the panther was still holding his breath until his body hit the hole with the coins. Next to him Panthro noted a rounded door and clung to the handle. The room had almost no more space to breathe but the others were now close enough to try to open the gate over them together, but they just couldn't.

"There's no escape this time." Lion-O feared with the water in their necks. Out of the blue, a pair of big dark hands grabbed the gate from outside and got it open freeing the Thundercats.

"You were saying, _Your Majesty_?" Panthro looked down at them with a smirk as he helped them all out.

"Panthro!" Everyone seemed relieved to see him alive and out of the water. Tygra was the last to get to safety with the others and Panthro then put the gate back in place.

"Guess not being able to swim has its vantages." The panther smiled.

"Thanks, General." Lion-O agreed.

"Look." Cheetara placed a hand on the lion's shoulder and showed him an open door.

His eyes softened in relief. "Who wants to bet that leads to the temple?" Everyone then followed him through.

When they crossed, they discovered there was nothing but very large trees ahead, the path before them was fully covered with branches and hanging vines. "What is this?" Cheetara asked at the view.

"This can't be. After all we got through..." Pumyra complained. Tygra stepped beside the girls and looked down, they were very far from the ground but still the tiger achieved to see it far below them.

"It's a long way down..." Lion-O commented.

"What makes you sure the only way is down?" Tygra asked.

"Come on, what other way do you see?" Lion-O said back and the tiger prince signaled the path of the trees.

"Don't waste time complaining, _your Majesty. _ Let's go." His brother scolded mockingly and jumped to a branch. The others had to give the tiger some credit now, they _cats_ could go across the trees without a problem.

They leaped from branch to branch trying to see an exit but the path proved to be larger than they thought. Meanwhile Lion-O seemed annoyed while on the move through the trees, something Pumyra noticed and jumped to a branch closer to him.

"Is everything alright, your Majesty?" As she asked genuinely curious the young lion looked at her from the corner of his eye which appeared to be a glare in her direction. "What? Did I say something wrong?" The puma girl looked very confused now. It wasn't the first time she's ever called him that, something Lion-O soon remembered and felt bad for glancing at her like that.

"N-no, I'm sorry…it was nothing." He apologized and looked forward. For a moment he meditated about the origin of the names his brother and the puma called him. No matter the circumstances, ever since Lion-O became Lord of the Thundercats Tygra has only referred to him as such in a vague way and with no display at all of respect but Pumyra was the opposite. Maybe it was because of her basic training as a soldier but not only she was the only one in their group to address him that way but also always with esteem and still, he couldn't help to sense some distance in her words and he wondered the reason…

"This is too easy to be a trap, don't you think?" Panthro asked suddenly breaching the silence between them and the thoughtful lion.

Their King blinked repeatedly before answering. "Don't you prefer it that way?"

The panther's face hardened all of a sudden. "I'm just seeing we should keep our eyes wide open, kid."

"Right." And as if Panthro's words provoked it, the next step Lion-O took was on a thinner branch that broke with his weight. "Aaahh!" The lion fell a few meters below chafing some branches along the way leaving a few scratches on his sides until his right hand clawed to a hanging vine saving him from a dangerous fall.

The General stopped on his track and watched the young King hanging under him. "Told ya…"

"Lion-O, are you ok?" Willykit asked and jumped some branches below to see if he needed help but he was already on a steady branch when she arrived in front of him.

Then Willykat climbed down too showing off a little his agile stunts. "What happened?" The little kid asked after squatting next to his sister.

Lion-O preferred letting out an exasperated sigh instead on yelling. "Let's keep going…"

The twins nodded and readyed to jump back up when the lion spotted a pair of vines moving on their own shooting in their direction. "Kit, Kat look out!"

The cubs almost did not turn around in time but Lion-O acted quickly and pushed them to another tree, unfortunately the vines captured his arms making impossible any move.

"Lion-O!" Kit screamed and the Thundercats turned to see what was going on.

Cheetara also cried out the lion's name and suddenly the vines hanging before her and the tiger launched toward them. Tygra quickly grabbed his laser pistol but a vine whipped it out of his grasp.

Lion-O forced his arm to take the Sword of Omens from the gauntlet but the vine around his arms tightened keeping him from doing so and then they lifted him in the air wrapping his legs together too. The lion fought to get loose, but the more he resisted the tighter the vines surrounded him, Cheetara and Tygra soon realized that on their own intent to escape.

"I can't get out." The cleric groaned feeling constricted but the plants.

Panthro and Pumyra jumped down from the heights and attempted to get Lion-O free when many more vines hurled on them. "What the-?!" Panthro looked shocked at the vines holding him away from the floor and started to feeling sick or something. "Don't. Look. Down." He murmured to himself, his abrupt fear prevented him from releasing from the vines.

In an attempt to grab a vine before it grabbed her, Pumyra threw her claws at the ones coming in her direction but their movements were 'intelligent' and wrapped her up in the air holding her by the wrists.

"What do we do now?" Willykit asked seeing their friends trapped while a frightened Snarf clambered to her back.

Her brother looked around and looked at her next. "We can't go down, let's go up!" And the two climbed to the treetops. They now could see the sky; it was still day time as the sun was visible above their heads.

The vines didn't take long to follow them and attack again. The twins looked at each other and jump back down to hide beneath the leaves and see if they could free their friends. "Come on! They'll be here any second!" Kit clawed down a log and sighted Tygra and Cheetara back to back. "Guys!" The girl shouted.

"Willykit move!" The cheetah yelled seeing the vines coming. She almost got trapped too if it wasn't for Kat's flank that cut the vine in two.

"Kids you have to find a way to free us." The tiger said.

"But-" Seeing more vines coming their way Willykat pushed his sister and moved on.

"Com'on sis." The two kittens leaped through the trees watching their step for more attacks but they knew they couldn't dodge the vines forever. They kept moving away from the Thundercats trying to lose the plants as they thought about a plan.

"Wait a sec." Kit blinked. "I have an idea." The cub-girl ran and jumped back to the others followed by her brother.

She stopped at the tree were Lion-O was tied up and sat in the branches next to him. To get there faster, Kat used his flank to swing toward his sister and watched her sitting still. Even Snarf jumped off of the girl and sat beside her.

"Kit, what're you doing?" The lion asked concerned.

"Kit?" Her brother called arching an eyebrow. His eyes widen seeing the little cat girl taking out her flute. At the sound the vine stopped instantly as they were being spellbound by the nostalgic music. "Way to go sis!" Kat shouted happily until noticing the cats weren't getting free.

Lion-O and the others stood in silence to help the cub playing to keep calm. Kit continued playing but her gaze turned worried 'cause the vines started to move again only this time their moves seemed kind of ditzy, she then shot her brother a look and as if on cue he climbed to another tree.

Willykat was now leaping through drunken vines, they still moved but were no longer attacking and he jumped everywhere like searching for something.

"Where did he go?" Pumyra asked seeing Kat out of sight now.

"Shh…" Lion-o hushed her seeing the kids might have a plan on their minds.

From another tree and in a higher level Tygra and Cheetara were still trying to get out of the vines. "Anything yet?" The prince asked moving his hands behind him.

The cleric had the same idea and turned her hands trying to get her claws free to cut their ties. Their eyes widened at the feeling of finding the other's hands and turned to see each other from behind their shoulders, realizing how close their faces were as they did so.

Meanwhile Kat continued going around the trees sidestepping branches and now dancing vine going in circles until he found himself where the cats were hanging again. He looked at Kit still playing, his sister was doing everything she could to keep the others and him out of harm from the vines and he knew he couldn't let her down so he kept moving and searching. Willykat dodged a branch and did not notice the vine loosely coming on his way making him stumble on to it and fall but thanks to his agile skills he whirled forward in the air and attached himself to another tree.

"That was close." He sighed looking down and then he spotted a hole beside his left claw and his face lighted up. "Oh! There you are!" Inside it he saw another switch and pressed it on. When he did the hanging vines returned to their inert form and the Thundercats were loose and back on their feet.

"Kat, you did it!" His sister shouted to the air as Lion-O and the others stepped next to her.

"You both did it, thanks kids." Lion-O smiled patting her head. Soon Tygra and Cheetara joined them looking for Kat.

"Hey guys, this way!" The boy called them from below pointing at the new opening there was on the mountain wall on the other side of the path.

"Great, another door open." Pumyra said sounding quite upset now. Lion-O could easily relate to the sentiment as he looking into the opening.

"At least this one's on solid ground." Panthro added relieved to have his feet on the ground again.

Their Lord let out a heavy sigh and looked serious. "Let's go."

Everyone followed after him except for Cheetara that stood behind for a few seconds. The cleric knelt before one of the trees and stared at its roots going under the soil. After placing her hand on top of them she wondered if it was the clerics from past times who planted them there as another obstacle to the tower's location, as she touched the roots a weird and poignant sensation ran through her…"I see…" She let out in a low voice and proceeded fast after the others.

Getting out of the mountain their eyes met with a disappointing view. Past the mountain there was a vast space separating the cats from a giant waterfall, but absolutely nothing but the jungle below between them.

"Why am I not surprised?" Tygra rolled his eyes folding his arms across his chest.

"This is hopeless!" Lion-O spat through gritting teeth. "We risked our lives getting out of those traps only to find more jungle?! Maybe no one can find this temple because it doesn't exist!"

"I don't believe it so." The cheetah showed up behind him. "Maybe it just takes more than physical traps to find it." And her gaze softened upon his and smiled. "Believe in yourself…I do." She rested her hand on top of his shaking fist as a sign of confidence and then removed it.

Lion-O looked at her back and calmed down as he remembered her words back at the forest while trying to make the sword work. His hand reached for the Sword of Omens and placed it again before his eyes. "Sword of Omens: Give Me Sight Beyond Sight!"

And for the first time the Eye of Thundera showed him a familiar picture, the clear image of the spot he was standing flashed through his eyes but the picture moved down revealing one more switch on the wall beneath them. Lion-o bent down and stretched his arm toward it.

"There's a switch down here but- I…can't, reach it." He grunted trying to stretch his arm farther.

"Allow me." Tygra stepped forward unfolding his whip and use it to reach and press the switch. After that an arc-like construction raised out of the water parting its course in half revealing what was behind the waterfall, a huge tower of an ancient look with some vines coming out of the windows. The top of it was a rounded red gem posing as the kilt of a sword and the body of tower as the blade the entire building rested over a giant panther head featuring its mouth as the entrance.

"The Tower of Omens…"

Lion-O and the others watched as a few platforms lifted from the ground creating a bridge for them to cross toward the temple.

"I can't believe I finally found it. Guess it only took the right partners." Panthro grinned as he stared at the tower he's spent years searching for.

"What are we waiting for?!" Willykat ran to the bridge followed by Kit and then the others when halfway they encountered what seemed an army of cat-shaped sculptures made of soil blocking the entrance to the temple.

"Not again, no more traps!" Willykit pouted.

Lion-O went ahead of her and wielded his sword. "Not this time." With a determinate look on his face he raised the blade and charged toward the statues. "_Thundercats! Ho!_"

The Thundercats launched at his signal and as they did, they saw in fact that the sculptures were another 'obstacle' as they apparently came to life and charged against them as well. Now a new battle began as the cats took on more than one opponent at a time. Panthro handled three of them easily bare handed while the others overthrew the rest of them with their weapons. Cheetara ran through a bunch of the statues at her high-speed leaving the ones standing for Pumyra to take down with her crossbow. Lion-O maneuvered the Sword of Omens as if it was light as a feather cutting his way through them turning around to see the defeated statues tore to pieces on the ground. As Tygra handled every enemy coming his way shooting and destroying each of them with his laser pistol reducing them to dirt as well. The cats gaining battle field as the sculpted soldiers were brought down but the convened forces of the Thundercats. Kit toyed with her opponent flipping circling it so Kat could hook it with his flank and started running around it to wrap its feet and then with a simple pull the statue fell on its face braking apart.

"Nice work, guys." The lion told them.

But as they headed to the tower, all the soldiers' pieces rolled up before their eyes assembling back together forming the soil army again. The Lord of the Thundercats stared bewildered at them. "Whiskers-"

"Again?" Tygra questioned and shot his gun at them giving the cats their cue to attack again. Lion-O gathered himself together and joined them with his sword but this time the sculptures' move patterns changed considerably surpassing them this time.

Cheetara speeded up and formed a wide circle corralling the statues inside leaving her friends outside. Everyone watched trying to see her through the flashed of her rapid movements but simply couldn't. They soon heard the sound of multiple blows and strokes and as the cheetah slowed down the others saw the piles of dirt she made of the enemy.

Everyone looked at the scene wide-eyed and then at the cleric staring at her feet. "Meow…" The twins echoed at the same time.

"That was amazing!" Lion-O breathed while Tygra stared intently at the blonde cat as if those were _his_ own words.

Cheetara appeared to be quite serene as she moved and walked pass the others. "Let's go." And then there was a mysterious tone in her voice. The young King looked at her with frowning brows while they all approached the tower's entrance once again.

And like the cleric _secretly_ predicted the sculptures rose again and walked towards them. The others prepared for the attack at the same time that the cheetah lifted her hand in front of them. "Don't move!"

The order sounded weird at the moment but they obeyed to it and watched the soil soldiers make no move at all. "How did you-" Lion-O directed his eyes to her.

"I was staring to notice the difference in nature between the traps inside the jungle and the others out of the mountain. The first traps were just mechanical obstacles while, assuming we were getting closer to the temple, the last two traps are implemented by magic."

"Magic?" Pumyra repeated.

"Of course. Like the living trees, and now this things responding to any move we make near the tower." Tygra pointed.

"But I don't see how we're going to stop these statues if they'll just keep coming at us with a single foot we put closer to the entrance." The lion commented to his brother.

The tiger prince smirked at the statues and with great caution reached for his whip sheathed on the back of his belt. "Exactly." He them pulled out the weapon and the sculptures pounced on him at the sudden action but stopped as soon as they saw nothing where the tiger stood.

Due to his whip, Tygra was now invisible to them and though they couldn't see him he was actually standing inches from them.

"Awesome!" The kids said low.

"Nice trick, kid." Panthro smiled at the still statues.

"Now what?" Lion-O questioned staring at the space where Tygra was supposed to be.

Seeing his little brother hopeless and with their vantage resting on his own hands the prince found his pride renewed, which made him respond. "Watch and learn, Lion-O."

It usually bothered him when his brother made fun of him but hearing it and not seeing it annoyed him even more a the lion let out a huff. Tygra took carefully his first step away from the soldiers and just like he expected, they did not move. But now the problem was how to get his friends to move too…and then he thought. If he could move then he could open the doors and get the book for them himself.

"Where is he now?" The puma forced her eyes but even so it was useless try to see the tiger.

At the same time Lion-O looked around. "Tygra what're you doing?" He demanded.

"Just let me handle it."

The lion then noticed the voice came from behind them. Tygra was now trying to force the door open as there was no keyhole anywhere. He put all his strength on his claws but the door would not move. Between pushing and grunts something between his feet got his attention, he then stopped forcing the door and stepped on the switch.

Everyone heard a creaking and the gates slowly opened. "Uh, Tygra?" Lion-O's head turned carefully around.

"He did it." Cheetara told him turning around.

Without warning Kit and Kat were the first to move. "We can get in! That was the last trap!" The boy jumped.

"Woo hoo!" Kit added excited.

"Alright let's go get that book." Panthro took and the statues began walking again. "What on Third Earth-"

"No, look." The tiger stopped the others and watched as the soil sculptures marched inside the tower past him. The Thundercats walked after them and saw each of them standing still in different sections around the room forming a circle and they stood that way. "Now we can go inside." Tygra said looking into the place. Just like the exterior, there were no straight walls; it was a rounded empty room with just a large column in the middle circled by rungs that went upwards.

As they contemplated their longed destination the Lord of the Thundercats stepped forward and looked up over his head at the top of the tower. "The book must be up there…we made it."

"Indeed, Lion-O." A grim voice echoed throughout the temple as the Thundercats turned around and looked at Mum-Ra standing at the door holding the lantern with the spirit of Jaga inside. "And finding this place will be the last thing you'll ever do."

The cats looked startled facing the evil sorcerer after the destruction of the Kingdom of Thundera. "I leaded him right to you…I'm very sorry." The voice of the elder cleric escaped the lantern.

"Jaga." Cheetara gasped shocked to see her mentor again. "You're alive."

"Hardly." The mummy responded her. "He's nothing but vapor in a jar, and now that I'm here I no longer require this useless soul." Then tossed the lamp to the air.

"No!" Lion-O shouted and Cheetara rushed toward the lantern catching it before it crashed into the ground ending Jaga's existence once and for all. Soured for not seeing the end of the head cleric Mum-Ra gave a little demonstration of his dark powers shooting a lightning bolt from his hand at the cheetah sending her through the air all the way until crashing against the central column.

"Cheetara!" Lion-O attempted to go to her aid but was stopped by Tygra.

"We have to get to the book before Mum-Ra does, come on." Said the prince pointing to the top.

"Go! Leave Mum-Ra to me." Panthro stepped up ready to face his opponent with his nunchucks. The General threw hit after hit, leaving no space open for the demon to counterattack, despise that it was almost admirable how even in his fragile condition the mummy eluded his strokes. Mum-Ra shot with his powers right to the cat's face trying to get rid of him but thanks to Panthro's thick and muscular building the attack only stunned him for a bit.

As if it was a distraction, Pumyra took this opportunity to run behind the evil Lord and aim at him with her crossbow shooting a few pellets successfully hitting the target. Mum-Ra turned aching from the attack to look at the other cat behind him, he was surrounded now but even so he didn't care.

"Ha, that's the best you can do?" Panthro smirked ready to attack again.

"Do not be deceived by appearances; my true form is _far_ more powerful!" The mummy hissed and was covered by a dark-purple aura. _"Ancient Spirits of Evil, transform this decayed form...into Mumm-Ra! The Ever-Living!"_

After the corpse-like form consumed this dark aura, the Thundercats were in presence of Mum-Ra, now in his full-power Ever-Living form. They stared startled at him contemplating the demon was even more physically imposing than Panthro himself and several feet taller, his skin is charred-gray lighter than in his former form with large demonic wings on his back. Mum-Ra settled on take the cats out of the fight so he summoned rays of energy coming from beneath the ground around Panthro to immobilize him, also keeping Pumyra from shooting again at him. From his mouth, the demon shot a charged energy beam to the General, severely hurting him and throwing him against the large pillar like he did Cheetara previously. In a quick motion he turned around and took the puma by surprise grabbing her arm and tossed her roughly over Panthro.

Kit and Kat that were close to the cleric and seeing the others out of combat stood up to Mum-Ra but as his wings readied to take flight the wind currents created by them sent the twins out of sight too. Now in the air Mum-Ra's objectives were the two thunderian princes.

Lion-O ran several steps ahead of Tygra almost getting to the top and the book while the tiger noticed their friends were taken down by the enemy. With the strength on his wings, Mum-Ra soon caught up with them, having the tiger prince on sight he shot another energy beam at him destroying the rung he was standing on forcing him to jump to a close platform nearby. Now behind the column Tygra wielded his whip to make himself invisible again to try and slow the demon down.

Down below Pumyra and Panthro snapped out of Mum-Ra's attack. They knew Tygra and Lion-O were going to need more help against him so the General lifted Snarf, Kit and Kat on his back and started to climb up. "You coming?" He asked looking at Pumyra over his shoulder.

"I'll help her up, you three go." The puma said firmly and went next to Cheetara.

Mum-Ra flew faster aiming for Lion-O to keep him away of the top when suddenly he felt a tug on his ankle followed by a none visible weight that prevented him from getting to the lion. And then a laser shot hit him on the face. The demon shot another charge from his mouth near his leg, the impact disrupted Tygra's camouflage revealing him. Mum-Ra shook his leg forcing the tiger to let go and fall but as he let go he used his whip to hold the demon from his foot again.

"You won't shake me that easily." Tygra bragged but tired of his persistence Mum-Ra stroke at him with another charge and this time the cat fell from a mortal height. Luckily, on the way down Panthro reached out and grabbed him from the leg, as the prince stretched to hold on to the wall himself and climb beside his friends.

"Are you ok?" Pumyra looked the cheetah over to see she got any wounds from the attack.

Cheetara looked at the lantern safe in her hands. "I'm ok. Where's Lion-O?" As she asked the two cats looked up to the top of the tower.

The Lord of the Thundercats reached the highest chamber but the evil sorcerer was close behind. The room was empty, there were no walls and no windows, only some designs made in stone that made the place look like a decorative cage and in the highest point of it, sealed in a smaller cage was the Book of Omens. Lion-O looked up to it thinking about a way to reach it when the Ever-Living appeared before him suspended in the air.

"The Book of Omens and its power belong to me!" Mum-Ra prepared to get the book.

"_Thundercats! Ho!" _

Lion-O called to the sword's power and it fired a powerful bright red beam that flashed throughout the room. This one being different and of much more reach than past times, blinding Mum-Ra for a few second. But at the same time from below Cheetara, who was the only Thundercat staring at the ceiling at the time, made visual contact with the red force from the sword giving her a surge of power visible through a rare bright golden glow on her eyes. Without wasting time the cleric left the other female cat behind and made her way next to their King running at incredible speed through the walls of the tower to the top in a blink of an eye she ran past the others still climbing.

Panthro and the kittens looked wide-eyed at the cheetah's speed having never seen her run like that before but it was the tiger that seemed mesmerized. "Close that mouth, you're drooling."

Above them Mum-Ra threw a purplish lightning bolt that Lion-O sidestepped rolling to a corner and blocked the second strike with the Sword of Omens, that tactic distracted the Warlord for a few seconds when Cheetara showed up in the air driving herself to connect a powerful kick to the monster's neck that made him back down one step but soon counterattacked shooting his dark charges at her, although the cheetah covered with her arms she dropped the lantern and was overwhelmed by Mum-Ra's might giving in and falling out off the rooftop but saved herself holding to the edge instead of falling.

"Cheetara!" Lion-O ran to her rescue. "Hang on!" But it only gave Mum-Ra the opportunity to spit out a super current of energy and hit him from behind. The shock drained much of the lion's strength as he almost fainted and fell on his knees and dropping the sword next to him.

"It'll be just as easy finish you now." The evil sorcerer said with his raspy voice. "You remind me of your father." Almost as if making fun of the cat's plight and preceded torturing him with more of his lightning bolts.

A few feet away the stranded lantern revealed Jaga's spirit witnessed the lion's defeat. "The boy is not ready yet. He cannot win this alone." The cleric's spirit shone brighter and released itself from its glass prison to help Lion-O. The light reached every inch of the place and all over Mum-Ra who let out horrible shrieks. The damage from the light was too much for the demon to resist and shielded himself from it under the form of a demonic raven and escaped claiming the Book of Omens would be his as he flew away.

"What is going on up there?!" Kit asked worried after not seeing any more flashes after that bright light at the end. Panthro and Tygra kept climbing and then saw Pumyra quickly catching up with them. Using her agile moves the puma climbed more rapidly than the others as she leaped on the remaining rungs and was the first to reach the top. She then found Lion-O helping Cheetara up to the platform and soon the other cats caught up with her.

After getting on her knees, the young cleric eyes fell on the broken lantern and gasped. The artifact was now empty and the spirit within it was gone. "No…" The Cheetara whispered painfully and went to take the lantern in her arms.

"Jaga…" Lion-O let out while the other Thundercats came closer to them.

"He sacrificed himself for you...for all of us." The blonde cat said to her King hugging the lantern close to her chest as Lion-O remained in silent sorrow. The others just sensed the grief in the atmosphere and said nothing too. But then something surged from the lantern's inside.

"Look." Tygra marked as a tiny spark floated over them, everyone's eyes followed it to the highest point in the room as it touched the Book's cell. As Jaga's last gift to the Thundercats the cell descended to the cats' reach and everyone waited for their Lord to take what was inside.

Lion-O inspected the book; it was reddish-brown with a big silver seal adorned with a central red gem as a mark of thunderian belonging. "At long last, we have all the answers." The lion King opened the book as everyone stared expectantly.

"Well? What is it say?" Tygra broke the silence.

Lion-O's eyes narrowed at the ages and then looked u to his friends. "It says…nothing." His face turned concerned and confused. "It's blank." The statement made the Thundercats look at each other wondering what was wrong with the book.

"It can't be." Pumyra gasped.

Panthro stared at the lion and then the book; he took a few steps and turned to see everyone. "Then this torturous journey ended up just as a mad goose chase?!" He snarled.

"Wait, there's gotta be an explanation." Lion-O told him but not so sure of his words. The twins could only look at each other looking just as confused as the rest of them.

Meanwhile Cheetara was still dumbfounded about what happened. "Are you alright?" Tygra asked standing next to her.

As if waking up from a trance the cleric looked back at him and loosely responded. "Yes. I'll be ok."

"What do you think is going on?" He asked then with a worried look.

For the first time the most centered of the group looked as lost as their King. "I…I really don't know." Her words didn't do much to reassure the tiger, Cheetara then saw the broken lantern still in her arms wondering if this was Jaga's work. And if it was; for what purpose.

"I don't know about you but if this is all we have to find here we better get down of here." Panthro said showing his frustration. Most of the Thundercats, although, not as frustrated as he, agreed at least on coming down of the tower and so followed Panthro…but not all of them.

"Aren't you coming?" Pumyra looked over her shoulder at Lion-O standing on the same spot with the book on his hands.

The lion looked at her back with a blank expression. "Uh? No, I just…I'll join you down later." And paused to think of something else to say that would leave her more satisfied. "Besides, we could all use this time to rest up. Don't worry about me."

His words certainly got into her ears still it did the opposite to ease her mind. After one more glance at him and the book the puma girl joined the others at the base of the tower leaving only Snarf with lion.

A whole day passed and it was first in the morning, the Thundercats were rested up but their King did not join them the entire day. Instead he spent the entire day staring at and trying to figure out the Book of Omens. "All those years we believed the Book of Omens was magic...but maybe is technology. Which means if I wanna read it…I need to power it up." Lion-O thought out loud still inspecting the book under Snarf's worried gaze.

The little feline wailed. "Relax. I'm not gonna break the Book of Omens." Lion-O said and looked for where the lock would be, but once he found it he received an electric shock that sent him flying on his back to the ground as the book fell on its spot. Snarf watched as the red stone on the cover shot a red beam, at the same time a sort of light force from the book seemed like pull Lion-O's spirit out of his body and dragged it into the Book of Omens. Snarf saw it all but was unsure of what exactly happened and whined.

.

Sorry for the delay (again) people. Thankfully I am back in regular business with my writing as I no longer have problems either with my computer nor the lack of my Word to write so I'll be trying to caught up with a couple of chapter so I can go back to update weekly without more troubles. Enjoy this one, I had fun (plus a hard work) doing it.


	9. Legacy

Hi folks, I finally finished '_Legacy' _and it's the first I don't white in two parts so you'll be reading the beginning and the end of this episode in this chapter. As a little warning, because this is a difficult episode for me to write I didn't change it, more like, 'added' some things, outside the book and inside too. Also this is like the origin of the Thundercats history that's way I didn't dare to change it but the good thing is that at the end of it it's a game-changer, so from now on I'll have more freedom playing with the story and characters than I did in this chap…I still hope you like it though.

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That morning Pumyra opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was almost the same as the last she saw before closing her eyes the day before. The kittens were cuddled next to each other beside her and Tygra was sitting at the tower's entrance against its frame, Panthro was also sleeping and snoring with his mouth shut. And there was the one thing missing.

"Where's Cheetara?" She asked.

The tiger prince looked at her and then pass to the waterfalls making the puma to turn around too. There was young cleric kneeling beside the water. Pumyra looked back at Tygra and although she saw some concern on his gaze she also noticed he wasn't getting up from his spot so she stood up instead and walked over the cheetah.

As she reached next to her, Pumyra could see that Cheetara was placing the broken lantern that contained her master's spirit until hours ago on the water and watched it go with the current. The puma girl waited a proper lapse of time to let the other female have a moment almost alone, before speaking. "Is everything ok?"

Cheetara got on her feet still her eyes fixed on the water until Pumyra's words sank in and looked over at her with an even face. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." Then her face drew a small smile to show her she was sincere.

"So…It must be hard for you." Pumyra started. "As Head of the Clerics he must've been like a father to you." It wasn't her intention to make the cheetah feel bad. Fortunately, Cheetara was a strong cat and she also sensed those weren't her intentions at all.

"He was." The young cleric simply answered.

Pumyra watched as the blonde cat stood tall beside her then she thought of the dark demon that has caused so much destruction and tragedy to their lives and her fist tightened with anger. "Mum-Ra will pay for all he's done to all of us." Her voice was harsh and throaty.

The cleric looked over at her never hearing her sound like that before; she understood her anger heartily but since she was a cub Cheetara was taught to think before act. And staying calm, even in the worst of situations, was always the best alternative for her.

The cheetah placed a hand on her shoulder trying to ease her temper. "Lion-O will make sure we see that day. I trust him on that."

That comment shot down all of Pumyra's reactions. It wasn't the first time Cheetara has proclaimed her total confidence in the Lord of the Thundercats but…"Tell me something." The puma began uneasy. "You once told me you didn't know either of the princes so much."

"I _did_ say that." The blonde female agreed.

"How long's been since you know Lion-O?" Pumyra finished.

The cleric stared at her with wide eyes changing her usual calm look for the first time that day. "Well, I remember that day very well. The first time we spoke was the same day Grune came back to Thundera, the day before Mum-Ra's arrival." Pumyra swallowed her words remembering that was the same day she met the lion prince too.

Cheetara then looked over the puma's shoulder at the tiger prince who was inspecting his pistol and stared at him deep in thoughts. Though she knew him longer than Lion-O she couldn't deny knowing more about the later than she did about Tygra. As she remembered when Lion-O took her to the place he got the pieces of technology he used to hide inside the palace and since the day they met she's been watching him closely, under Jada's orders. Her mind travelled to her childhood in Thundera, when Tygra and she met, and how at some point she regretted not getting to know him better back then…

The sound of the puma's voice brought her back to the present as she sensed she was wording something but wasn't completely listening to her. "Hm…what?"

Pumyra looked at the tiger across them and back at her. "What is it?"

Cheetara let her guard down without notice but quickly composed herself. "It's nothing; I just noted the kids are finally awake." And that was true; Kit and Kat were stretching and yawning as they got up.

"Hey, where's Lion-O?" Willykit asked a little sleepy.

"He must be still up there." Kat answered pointing at the top of the Tower of Omens. Now they saw Panthro was the only one sleeping yet.

"You think he figured out how to read that book?" His sister asked but she only got a shrug from her brother as an answer.

The two females walked back to the others and the cleric acknowledged the twins. "Good morning you two. How about a basic training session to start the day?" She smiled seeing this as an opportunity to distract them and herself.

"Really?" Kit gasped.

"Awesome!" Kat jumped and joined the cheetah in front of the building until the little girl followed him.

Pumyra watched them picking up a couple of sticks from the floor and tried to beat Cheetara who effortlessly blocked their every blows with her staff. Then the puma looked at the highest point of the tower room were Lion-O stayed with the book and wondered was about it was keeping him up there so she decided go and find out.

Walking past between Tygra and Panthro she went up stairs but when she heard Snarf whining the unusual sound told her something was wrong and hurried to the roof. "Snarf?" Then she saw the Lord of the Thundercats lied unconscious on the floor while his cat-pet was sat next to his face. "Lion-O!"

The puma girl rushed to his side and barely shook his body while calling his name. When nothing of that seemed to work she took the lion's wrist to check his pulse then approached her face to his and a glimpse of worry crossed her eyes. Something definitely weird was going on; Lion-O's heart rate was normal but he wasn't breathing. The only one that could know what happened was Snarf; sadly he wouldn't be able to explain. Pumyra then hurried and summoned the others.

Meanwhile, inside the Book of Omens, Lion-O's soul appears travelling into some kind of dark space with direction to nowhere. "You've entered a strange realm, Lion-O." The lion looked behind and a bright light appeared taking a familiar form. "The Book is neither magic nor technology but rather a fusion of both."

"Jaga!" The cat's eyes widened. "You're alive…"

The late high cleric floated over him. "The rules of life, death and reality itself are different within the book, Lion-O."

"Jaga…the last time you told me if I had questions the book could show me the answer. Can it tell me what Mum-Ra's after? And how to stop him?" The lion spoke his query.

"The answers lie in the all-seeing records of the past…but to truly understand them you must re-live the events that led us here long ago. Far beyond the skies of Thundera and the reach of your imagination." He replied.

With a wave of his staff, Jaga sends Lion-O into the distant past, taking place in the outer space. Lion-O's soul saw itself enter the body of another lion within a travelling pyramid-shaped spaceship as he heard Jaga's voice who was no longer in the same place as he now.

"Now, within the body of your ancestor, Leo…you will face the same challenges he faced. But I must warn you…if you fail, the book's information will be closed to you forever." The lion felt how the late cleric's voice left his side and found himself in front of a holographic view-screen.

Lion-O's new appearance, better said, Lion-O's ancestor's was of a lion with much the same built as his although with longer red mane and sideburns, probably indicating Leo was then older than Lion-O in present time, he wore a blue-gray armor with the Thunderian red symbol on his chest.

The lion found himself now fiddling with a terminal that showed him pictures of a _familiar_ planet and then showed him a red cubic jewel resembling a cat's eye.

"The Eye of Thundera?" Lion-O, murmured.

"Magnificent, isn't Leo?" A voice came from the shadows of the throne room and the lion stared bewildered at Mum-Ra in his Ever-Living form.

"I serve Mum-Ra?" The fact crushed in the cat's face as the Warlord approached the view-screen.

"And you will do well not to forget it." Mum-Ra marked. "In a matter of minutes the _War Stone_ will be under my grasp, and I will use it to amplify the power of the _Sword of Plun-Darr_, making it the most formidable weapon in existence." Letting show a large gauntlet and a demonic looking sword he took from it, much like a bigger…and _darker _version of the gauntlet and Sword of Omens.

Just by looking at it, Lion-O sensed that weapon meant pure evil and tremendous destruction, also couldn't shake off the fact that Mum-Ra called _War Stone _to the Eye of Thundera. He was almost caught off guard when Mum-Ra asked Leo of the Book of Omens has pinpointed the gem's power signal.

Indeed, the Book of Omens was the mainframe of Mum-Ra's searching technology and from it came the terminal Lion-O tipped on looking for the demon's target. "There." And the screen showed the same planet as before.

By Mum-Ra's command the screen switched to Captain Tygus waiting for his master orders. "Prepare your pilots and the rest of the invasion force to proceed once the stone is located, Captain." He addressed Leo then. "To that aim Commander, see to it that the animals are deployed for the initial planetary sweeps."

"Yes…my Lord." Lion-O exited the throne room running to the massive halls inside the spaceship. "I can't believe how murky it felt to say that…wait, of course I can." He grunted as he went deeper into the dark corridors with no one else around. "It seems the past is really messed up. Mum-Ra used the Book of Omens to find the Eye of Thundera; his so-called 'War Stone'…and the cats helped him? This is all so weird."

"And I'm so lost." The lion stood at the entrance of the ship's detention area. A vast chamber with walls lined with high-tech cages sealed by energy shields. The picture penetrated his eyes as he saw all the animal races separated in the cells…Elephants, monkeys, jackals and others all locked up.

"What took you so long?"

His body stiffed at the sound of a female voice coming behind him. The woman was of the panther breed, sporting a uniform much like Leo's. She had past-shoulder length dark blue hair and indigo fur with amber eyes and a tail, but definitely her most distinctive trait was her height being merely more than a head taller than the lion.

She walked past him and he had to raise his face a bit to see her in the eye. "Sorry, what did I miss?" Perhaps the real Leo wouldn't have asked that but Lion-O was indeed lost in there.

The panther shook her head and chuckled at his sudden ignorance and guided him to the red screen next to the cells which showed the stats of a foreign planet. "This is the invasion planet target. Most of its surface is water…which means we're going to need all the Tigersharks for a marine search." Lion-O looked at the aquatic race inside the only cell filled with water so they could breathe. "You already know we have the dogs and monkeys to work the ground, and the vultures will cover the search from the sky." The female cat continued and looked at him. "I assume Tygus and his fleet will move in once the stone is located."

Lion-O/Leo grinned as she completely predicted Mum-Ra's orders. "You, could, assume that."

The two then moved towards the soldiers preparing the slaves to begin their mission. Sure Lion-O was aware of the lizards being on Mum-Ra's side for long before Thundera's fall so he wasn't surprised to see them working under his will, but now he realized that what he thought was an alliance between the undead warlord and the reptiles was actually a relationship founded on abuse and slavery from Mum-Ra to them and the other animals.

"All these animals enslaved to search for a single stone." The lion muttered.

"You almost sound surprised…" The female said arching a severe brow towards him. "But what do you think they hate more? The cages or the security collars that will blow them to pieces with just one step they give in the wrong direction?"

"I'm going with the collars..." He quipped, without thinking she wasn't really expecting him to answer that. Along with the other soldiers they began moving the prisoners out of their cells making them walk in a single line to make sure the soldiers put the security collars to all of them. Almost as if planned, a tall blue-furred dog from the jackal clan stopped on his track provoking one of the cat guards to shock him with his electric staff ordering him to move along but the dog stroked back throwing him over one of the lizards. Soon elephants and monkeys joined against the soldiers, and each other, staring a big fight.

The fuss activating the warning alarm. "Just what we need, a riot!" The panther jumped to the action starting by knocking two lizards and turned to Lion-O/Leo. "Are you gonna stand there just looking _pretty_ or are you gonna fight?!" As if all the commotion was a sort of entertainment to her.

But the lion couldn't move fast enough as the largest lizard of their clan grabbed him roughly and pressed him to the wall.

"Whiskers."

He growled trying to free himself but the lizard was stronger, but when the reptile stared at him close enough the cat managed to head-butt the huge lizard getting him to release him.

The alarm kept buzzing while Lion-O took down the monkeys coming at him and then the rest of the guards managed to overcome the rioting animals and put their handcuffs back on and taking them back to their cell.

"We'll take in from here." The she-cat told one of the soldiers as she and the lion dismissed the leaders of the riot to the holding area away from the others.

Her companion followed wondering what ever she was planning on doing to those two. They reached a door on the hall and she opened it by pressing a button. "You so much as twitch, it'll be the last move you make!" She squeezed their arms and after one of the patrollers saw them she tossed them into the room and closed the door.

Once inside, the panther unlocked their cuffs before a very shocked Lion-O. "Wait! What are you-"

"They've spent enough time in these things." Her voice now nicer and sympathetic.

She let Rezard, the lizard to rub his sore forehead as it was the same the lion knocked at the cells wing, the reptile hissed and grunted at his former attacked. "Nearly took my head off…I should've known you cats were to take the first change you get your avail over us!"

Lion-O feared the lizard would pounce on him any second now.

"I'll say that was quite a convincing performance." The she-cat smiled at the still puzzled lion.

"Um yeah…performance." He repeated seeing it was all some sort of facade.

"Apologies for the unplanned riot, but it seem it was needed for us to meet in view that Mum-Ra will soon have the stone." Shen, the leader of the jackals spoke.

"Yes, and once he does, there'll be no force in the galaxy strong enough to free us from his dominion." The panther then resolved to ask. "Now, the question is…are you really prepared to join the rebellion against him?"

Lion-O paid close attention to their discussion and switched to the dog. "Our people are willing but some are beginning to question if the jackals can really trust you cats."

Now every piece was staring to take place inside Lion-O's head; the other species saw the cats like threats as big as Mum-Ra, still their survival depended on working together if they hope to beat the real and bigger threat that the Ever-Ling was. But the lion suspected to achieve that goal they were going to need someone among all the species to lead them…And knowing the highest status he knew belonged to the lions since ancient times it gave him the clue to who that 'someone' would be.

Now the red-maned cat understood what Jaga meant by _face the challenges Leo faced_, and though he wasn't sure he could pull it off, Lion-O knew he had to, at all cost, if he wanted the Book to help him defeat Mum-Ra in his own time.

His cloud of thoughts was put away by the panther arguing with the two prisoners. "Either you trust us, or you live the rest of your lives as Mum-Ra's slaves."

"Even if we could really trust you…does the commander believes can defeat Mum-Ra even if by some miracle he gets the stone first?" Rezard eyed the lion haughtily making him feel even smaller though Lion-O did the best to hide it. "Does he have what it takes?"

"Hey, I 'm standing right here." Lion-O/Leo spoke up. "And sure I can. Uh-…I mean, probably." His voice not so convincing.

"Definitely." The panther firmly assured. "But he can't do it alone. All the animals must unite if we want to overwhelm Mum-Ra's defenses."

"Of course if he fails, we all die." The lizard shot back.

"Yes, how ironic. Our cat oppressors turn to the slaves for salvation." Shen added. "If he gets the stone, we'll give our trust vote a consideration." And with that he and his lizard partner exited the room.

The female cat went right behind them but did not get out before approaching the shocked lion. "Don't you worry. I have faith in you, Leo." She said close to his face and kissed his cheek, drawing a goofy smile on his face while easing his insecurity for a bit.

But reality quickly hit him again. "I'm so dead." He sighed in frustration. "But at least I have a girlfriend."

"Will he be ok?" Willykat looked at Lion-O unconscious form.

"Is this some kind of trick?" Kat wondered poking the lion's face.

"Please, stop that." Pumyra scolded him holding his hand away from his face.

The boy giggled sheepishly. "He he, sorry."

The Thundercats stood circling him all showing concern about his state and clearly unsure of what happened to their King.

"So what do we do?" Panthro asked for everyone.

While Pumyra searched for something to say, Cheetara scanned the room with her eyes and found the Book of Omens lying two feet away from Lion-O's body on the floor and went to pick it up. She stared intently at it and placed her hand on top of the red gem, by doing so her senses perceived an unknown aura emanating from the book. It flowed through her giving the sensation of nostalgia. "_Jaga…_" Her mind revived the moment when her mentor sacrificed to help Lion-O against Mum-Ra and how the last sparkle of his life bestowed the Book of Omens to them.

"What's wrong, Cheetara?" Tygra asked bringing her back from her deep thoughts.

"I'm not sure but-" Everyone now stared at the young cleric. "Maybe there's only one way to read the book…and Lion-O inadvertently found that way." She explained.

The prince looked at the lion lying there and turned back at the cheetah. "What you mean?"

"Probably a part of him might be inside the book."

"What?!" Everyone shout out.

Pumyra knelt beside the lion and looked up at the other female. "Is he going to make it out of there?"

"If my thoughts are correct, he will." Cheetara said. "But all we can do now is wait."

In the throne room Mum-Ra received Tygus's invasion report. The Captain let his master know after the slaves went through their task of recognition his fleet finally located the War Stone in the heart of a well-armed city and they were going working to retrieve it as they spoke.

The undead watched the screen with Leo standing next to him; they watched the Tigersharks in the oceans, vultures in the sky and the dogs still marching through the planet's plains. "Every species has its place, Leo. Some meant for grater task than others." Mum-Ra told his Commander as they watched the other animals over his control. "But your own kind has proven most cunning and ruthless."

Lion-O/Leo wasn't making eye contact with him as he was trying to make sense of what his eyes were seeing through the holographic screen.

"You cats inspire fear in the other animals. They hate you as they do me…I suspect in a rebellion, you would be the first to die." The Warlord said.

"A rebellion?" The lion turned to see him in the face. "That would surely be the work of fools, my Lord."

"Indeed, it would." Mum-Ra breathed and they heard the computer chiming.

_The screen showed them Tygus again. "We have procured the War Stone, Lord Mum-Ra," The red crystal in his hand._

_"At long last, it is mine." Mum-Ra hissed. "Bring it to me!" He commanded the lion, and Leo dismissed himself after it. _

_But before that, he was intercepted but his panther partner who took him through a secret passage under the ship where they heard someone hammering metal. They slid into a lower space while a group of blacksmiths from the cougar race finish forging a weapon then met with the other cats and handed the claw-shield and the sword within it to Lion-O/Leo as he placed it into his left arm. _

_Now some hope seemed ahead as he eyed this familiar artifacts. The lion took the sword out of the gauntlet and it was in its dagger form and lacking its signature red gem, but he knew that was about to change. "The Sword of Omens." He said giving the weapon its name. _

_"Forged with the same enchanted metal as Mum-Ra's Sword and gauntlet as well…but I worry it's a bit, short." The panther commented also eyeing the small weapon. _

_But the lion was more optimistic than her about that matter. "That'll it change once I add the Eye of Thundera to it, let's go." _

_As they walked back to the hangar facility to meet, better said, ambush Tygus, the female cat looked down at the Commander. "__The Eye of Thundera__? When did you come up with the name? _

"It just came from the top of my head." _Lion-O/Leo smiled smoothly._

She had to admit; his sudden lapses of confidence and carefree personality were charming and attractive to her. "And after defeating Mum-Ra, what?...Declare yourself ruler of the invented _Kingdom of Thundera?" _The panther said figuratively, teasing Leo. His respond was a mischievous grin.

Captain Tygus stored his Feline Fighter and descended with a little box containing the War Stone as he raised his eyes, his gaze met Leo with the panther aiming a laser pistol at him.

"Thanks for finding the Stone, Captain. Now, I'll take it from here." The lion told him.

The tiger glared at him. While he took the vessel from his hand. "You're a fool to think you can reveal against Mum-Ra, Commander. You'll never unite the animals to follow you."

"A tiger underestimating me." Lion-O/Leo grinned. "I'm not surprised." And then fused the stone with the Sword of Omens, the mix of the two caused the sword to hum with a radiant red light filling the room and thundering lightning coming out of it, symbolizing the rise of a new Lord of the Thundercats.

After that the panther approached him and placed her hand on his should. "Now all you have to do is use the book to shut down security, free the slaves and beat Mum-Ra." Giving him a parting kiss before taking the tiger away.

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds so easy." Lion-O said dryly and then headed to the throne room where Mum-Ra awaited.

"I knew something more than subordination was going on between you two, but I never expected it'd be a grudge. You're actually sending him to a death sentence." Tygus growled as the she-cat dragged him through the hallway.

"You don't know what you're talking about." The panther said half-ignoring him.

A smirk appeared in his face. "You can't fool me; I may have bought Leo's loyalty to our Lord at some point, but from the beginning I suspected you were not like him."

"Mum-Ra is not my Lord." She then pushed him inside one of the holding chambers. "And after Leo confronts him, he will be Lord to nothing."

Tygus listened to her words and couldn't help but laugh taking her aback.

"What's there to laugh about, Captain? Are you so compelled to follow this monster against your own species that you finally lost your senses?" The panther snarled.

"Foolish woman! Even if Leo gets the War Stone, he's still outnumbered." Even with his hands tied behind his back, Tygus snugly sat down in the little room's ledge. "You just encouraged him to his undoing." The smile pasted on his face.

The panther stared at him now feeling she was losing her cool realizing what he meant by 'outnumbered'. But then she reminded herself to believe in the lion no matter what. "Forgive my disagreement; you're the one who's doomed himself and your prideful fleet, the tiger clan." She then walked to the door and turned to see Tygus before locking him up. "You wanna talk about betrayal? Then listen up! Once this is all over yours won't go on unpunished, you and the tiger clan can be sure of that." Her voice was commanding enraging the Captain as he let out a growl before she forcefully shut the door closed.

Meanwhile Lion-O/Leo finally made it to the controls/throne room where Mum-Ra waited for him and the stone. "You have the stone, Commander?" The Warlord asked facing him with his back.

"Yes, but you're not getting it." Lion-O said making him turn to face him.

"Your betrayal comes as a surprise." Mum-Ra muttered. "But more surprising is that you sincerely believe you can succeed."

The lion ready to unsheathed his sword. "You said yourself it was the most powerful weapon in the universe." The Sword of Omens turned to its full-length blade.

"_One_ of the most powerful weapons in existence, Leo." The undead told him. "And I have the other _three."_ He lifted his arm revealing the other three stones embedded to the dark gauntlet.

"Three stones?!" The lion gasped seeing the three gems.

Mum-Ra chuckled showing of their power running through the gauntlet. "Certainly you didn't forget about the three stones we already collected."

"Huh, believe it or not, that somehow slipped my mind." Lion-O said.

"Having brought a planet to its knees for that stone, I expect taking it from you will be a _far easier task_!" The Ever-Living pulled out the Sword of Plun-Darr, turning into a staff of some sort with a pair of blades on opposite in both ends of it. He spun it in the air and then slammed it on the ground. Surges of lightning came from it as Lion-O protected himself behind the claw-shield, but still was pushed back by its power

Mum-Ra lifted his weapon and the lion launched straight to him. They engaged in sword battle, Lion-O swinging his sword again and again with powerful lightning coming from it with each blow forcing the Warlord to step back. After a couple of strikes, he used the power of the War Stone at Mum-Ra shooting a red beam at him, the attack so powerful, that it made one of three the stones from his gauntlet fall lose. Lion-O saw it fly in the air and ran out to catch it in his gauntleted hand.

He glared up at Mum-Ra. "Without your precious stones you'll be nothing more than a withered sack of bones."

Mum-Ra enraged as wings lifted him in the air. "The two stones I have left are still enough to defeat you!" He called upon their power and the Armor of Plun-Darr appeared covering him. "Perhaps I underestimated you, Leo. But you underestimating me it's a far more drastic mistake!" The armor made him not only more powerful than ever but also much bigger. "I can harness the powers of these stones in ways you can only _dream_ of!" Columns of purplish lightning shoot from the ground he stood on.

"Just when I thought I was winning…" Lion-O/Leo mumbled as he saw him. With a lift of his hand the evil one shot a blast of energy sending the cat over the edge of the platform.

"You're rebellion is over, Leo!" Mum-Ra declared.

The Commander climbed back up. "I'm not done yet." He ran toward him clashing their blades together and more lightning flew off. Lion-O roared, and the Eye of Thundera began to glowing and shot out a bright light blowing the demon back and down into the depths of his station as he tried to do him before. Quickly Lion-O sheathed the sword and ran to the Book of Omens, pressing every key there was in the console. "If I don't get these animals loose, this'll all be for nothing."

After a few more keys pressed the detention facility was shut down and all the animals were free from their cells. "He…he actually did it." Shen gasped while none of them dared to step out.

The lizards were the first to do so but still wouldn't run away because of the commotion. Everyone then looked up at the screens showing up before them with Leo on the other side. "I realized the cats haven't earned it, but I'm asking all animals to trust." The lion said. "Trust in me and in a future where we're not enemies but brothers. Let's put aside our differences because together we can be _free_." He took the Sword of Omens and lifted it in front of the slaves. "_Unite or fall!"_

The animals finally revolted and escaped outnumbering the soldiers gradually taking over the spaceship. The panther watched in the corridors as the animals ran past her and then looked at one of the screen in the hall showing Leo.

"So, how'd I do?" The image from the screen asked to her.

"Let's say the only thing I'm not happy with is missing all the fun. Other than that…" She concluded blowing him a kiss through the screen before escaping with the rest of the animals.

Lion-O smiled at the screen but then turned worried seeing Mum-Ra'd flown back to the platform. "You think you saved them, when all you've done is dooming everyone and yourself because of your little rebellion!" He shot a blast of lightning at the cat but he voided it jumping back.

"They're not fighting for me!" The lion shouted at the demon. "They're fighting for themselves!"

Mum-Ra was not affected by the cat's will to get up withstand his veil powers and before he could react, the Warlord launched toward and picked up Lion-O with one hand to throw him and crash him against the wall. "Even if you had my power, you wouldn't know what to do with it!"

Lion-O forced himself up and glared at him, his eyes then went to the two stones embedded to his gauntlet. His eyes widened as he remembered he still held the stone he previously took from Mum-Ra and looked down at the green stone still in his hand. "Maybe not." He said as he got on his feet. "But I just figured out this gauntlet holds more than my sword." He put the stone on his gauntlet and watched as it fused with it. Automatically his own armor appeared around his body, covered with Golden aspects resembling a lion. The armor seemed to grant its wielder a greater size although still not matching Mum-Ra's.

"Now it's my turn!" Lion-O/Leo charged at him and Mum-Ra readied to block his blow. Their blades clashed but when there was an opening for him, the lion shot at his opponent with a blast of lightning even stronger than before, the impact sending the demon through the walls sending him out of the ship into space. He flew after him and continued battling each other. Each stroke from the Sword of Omens sent flashes of lighting causing Mum-Ra to cease his offensive and start blocking but then he stroke at the lion sending him to the ship's wall. Not letting him to make any move the Ever-Living charged at him but the lion dodged his attack and started to fly away with the enemy giving chase behind.

Mum-Ra shot aiming at him but his attacked missed Leo every time causing serious damage to the ship's surface, Lion-O resumed the attack and blasted him with the sword again crashing him back into the throne room and followed him close behind. The damage output from the cat's assault caught up with the evil monster as he laid weakened in the stairs of the room, Lion-O took the advantage brought the Sword of Omens down to him, as Mum-Ra tried to block the attack the blade ended up tearing the other stones out of his gauntlet.

"NO!" Mum-Ra cried as they fell to the cat's feet. His armor and body began to dissipate into a purple smoke, leaving a very familiar withered form instead. Leo's armor also retreated as the Sword of Omens cringed to a dagger size

"Now that's the Mum-Ra I know and love." Lion-O/Leo reached down and picked up the other two stones and put them in his gauntlet. With the three stones attached to it the gauntlet glowed brightly throughout the throne room and everyone on the ship cheered for him from another platform where he soon joined them.

The panther showed up from the crowd and walked up to him. "You just accomplished the impossible." She told him smiling; he smiled back as the nightmare was over

But suddenly the ship lurched and began to tear apart due to the damage caused by the battle worsening and falls towards the planet as the alarms went off causing all the animals to panic. The she-cat ran up to the console and pressed the keys on a computer to see what was happening. "The ship's instruments are going crazy!" She said. "Some kind of magnetic storm is fighting the gravity of this planet's moons. We're on a crash course for—!"

"_Third Earth_." Lion-O finished looking up through a window seeing the magnetic storm unfolding around the planet. In the chaos and with the ship about to crash no one noticed the Mum-Ra getting up.

"Enjoy your fleeting victory as you'll soon be burning into this planet's orbit." The mummy-looking demon whispered to their backs and chuckled darkly, "Know I will live to collect what's mine."

As the lion came aware of his presence, Mum-Ra opened his sarcophagus and sealed himself inside before Lion-O/Leo could stop him; he then tried to pull the doors open vainly.

"If we can't pry it open, let's make sure he can't either!" The Panther went over to the device Mum-Ra used to get in and slammed her fists against it, effectively breaking it and putting it out of use. The animals had little time to feel relieved having their enslaver gone as the spaceship engulfed in flames coming in contact with the planet's gravity force with no way to escape.

Both cats stared at the screen showing them their final destination. "What can we do now?" The female asked calmed.

The lion looked up to her and said. "The only thing we can do: Brace for the impact." Seeing this as their last moment together his companion leaned down and pressed her lips to his.

At some point before the crash a blinding light pulled Lion-O's spirit out of the event from the past and his ancestor's body taking him back to that _limbo-_kind of space inside the Book of Omens from where he started this journey.

The young King looked around in confusion wondering what just happened when he heard Jaga's voice again behind him. "Jaga, what happened?"

"Don't worry Lion-O, you've accomplished your mission so far…but the Book's record disrupted because of the crash against Third Earth, still it left enough of the crew alive to begin civilization anew." The elder cleric explained."Now you know what Mum-Ra is truly after."

The lion nodded. "Yes, he's after not just the Eye of Thundera but _all_ the stones." He continued. "Now I have to find them before he does. But, where are they?"

"Scattered throughout Third Earth." Jaga said. "Use the Book of Omens; it'll guide you to them. But remember what you've learned…It will take more than just the stones to defeat this monster."

"I have to bring all the animals against him." Lion-O repeated his words when Leo freed the slaves in the spaceship. "We unite or fall…"

As his body lied still Pumyra rested on her legs beside him never leaving his side, just like Snarf did. Cheetara was standing close to the edge of the room gazing the outskirts while Tygra was sat on a piece of stone with arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed. As the Cheetara walked over to him, her close presence made him open his eyes. He saw her looking at him and then both turned at the lion's sleeping form seeing no change in his state.

"This is taking too long." The low voice of the tiger stopped the silence between them.

"No," Cheetara said after him. "I believe it's taking what it needs to take him." She sounded relaxed but all-time alert at the same time.

"Why doesn't she move at all?" Tygra asked indifferently, watching Pumyra making no move at all like a statue. "It's not like he's dead."

"Pumyra knows about healing and was the first to find Lion-O unconscious." The cheetah responded lightly. "Maybe she can't help to think she needs to watch over him while he's like this, immobile…_vulnerable." _

"Maybe…" The prince said without caring.

Cheetara glance at him for a few seconds. "Aren't you worried about him?" Her question caused him to look back at her.

His mouth and brows were a straight line. "No, I'm not." He said in a prideful way but then his expression changed when he saw the slightly puzzled look on the cleric's face. "I don't mean it that way. I know he'll be ok." Told her dryly.

Cheetara wasn't all content with his affirmation but didn't say more after.

"Is the kid awake yet?" Their heard Panthro's voice as he and the twins were walking up stairs. His face fell as it was the same picture as it was before they went for a walk to the surroundings. Cheetara saw them three walk close to Lion-O and she did the same, followed by Tygra behind.

"I say we wake him up!" Kat said ready to pounce on Lion-O when Pumyra stopped him.

"Didn't you hear what she said?" The puma girl motioned toward the blonde cat. "We can't do that…just wait."

"But we've been waiting all morning." Kit complained.

"Yeah…We're not very good at doing nothing, Pumyra." Her brother said rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I noticed." Panthro muttered after going through the deep jungle around the temple chasing after them for not staying in one place, or as they called it, playing _Hide and Seek_ with them.

Then the kittens and the General started bickering, Snarf cried getting their attention and Pumyra's gaze caught Lion-O's chest raising and falling. Slow at first but then steadier.

"Guys, shh…" Tygra shushed them, noticing his brother breathing again too.

The Thundercats leaned down closer and Lion-O let out a long gasp and his eyes shot open seeing all his friends staring at him. They all stayed in silence until the lion sat up carefully.

Lion-O started go get up, Pumyra did the same but her hand went to his arm to try help him up, but when she did the lion gave her a look telling her he was ok and she let go of him. As they all looked at him curious their King met their gazes and said.

"I know what we have to do." Lion-O then gave his friends a short but proper explanation of his voyage through the Book of Omens telling them about the other three stones and Mum-Ra's further and ambitious goal. They left the Tower of Omens behind and following Panthro's guide through the jungle they went back into the Thundertank.

Finding the book marked the end of their initial journey after the destruction of their home, now a far more difficult and dangerous mission has revealed to them. Whether they're prepared or not is unknown to them for the moment, but if there's something to be sure of…they won't retreat and will go through all risks needed because that's the _Thundercats_ way.

.

Sadly, because of my sucky life I won't be able to write for a whole week, after that and some urgent rest for me, this fic will be up and going again! On another matter I always appreciate all the reviews and your enthusiasm for my story. Thank you all for that!

I'm out…


	10. Swords and Kings

The cats were now on board the Thundertank, the Lord of the Thundercats sat on the bridge with most part of his group as he meditated what their next step would be while the Book of Omens rested on his hands. Tygra was next to him while Pumyra and Cheetara sat across them in the room.

"I think I have an idea…" The lion said with a thinking tone.

"Let it out." His brother said firmly.

"The book is a fusion of sorcery and technology, and maybe we can equip the tank with it so it can show us with the other stones are."

"You mean use it like a compass of some sort?" Cheetara asked.

"And you think that's possible?" Pumyra said looking at the book.

Tygra stood up and snatched the book from his brother's hands. "Hey!" The lion snapped.

"Only one way to find out." The tiger said heading to the cockpit.

"Hey, what you think you're doing?" The others heard Panthro from the bridge.

"Whatever it was, we didn't do it." Lion-O and the girls turned to the rear, the kids' heads peeping from a side of the doorway.

"Don't worry." Pumyra told them. "He's not talking to you." As a respond the two kittens sighed in relief then join them with Snarf and them all paid attention to what was going on the other side of the door.

There, Tygra had gone straight to the controls. "That should do the trick." The prince smiled having fitted the Book of Omens between the two drivers' seats on the console.

The panther looked at him with disbelief for a moment and the others came in waiting for something to happen. They waited expectantly but the book did nothing.

"Looks like it'll have to take more than just put it there to make it work." The young cleric noted. Tygra let out a little grunt in frustration at his failed plan.

The next thing to happen all of a sudden was the tank starting to slow down for unknown reason until it stopped. "What just happen?" Kit asked in the middle of the group standing at the door frame.

Everyone turned to Tygra, Panthro particularly _glaring _at him. "What did you do to my tank?!" He grunted.

"Relax, General." The tiger cut him trying to sound nonchalant. "I can fix this."

"Yeah right," The panther puffed. "Show me your mechanic license." Added grumpily with sarcasm and received a mean look from Tygra.

Two hours later they were still stuck in the middle of nowhere, apparently. Panthro and, mostly, Tygra worked to get the Thundertank back on the road as well as the Book of Omens to coöperate with the tank's navigation system. As the other didn't have much to do Cheetara thought about go scouting, Kit and Kat asked to go with her in an attempt to get out of there and have some fun but the cheetah told them she only would take them with her if they helped scouting around as well, with not many options left they agreed. After they left, Panthro told Lion-O they were going to need more supplies to keep with the tank's repairing, since there were no towns nearby that was going to be a long trip, as they were the only ones left in the tank Lion-O took Pumyra with him and Snarf didn't waste much time going after them.

Panthro sat in the driver's seat as he waited for Tygra to finish hooking up the Book of Omens to the navigation system properly. "By the time you get the Book of Omens rigged up, Mum-Ra will have conquered the planet!" He let out, getting impatient with Tygra's constant drilling.

"Never-" Tygra grunted, drilling something in, "Rush-" One more drilling sound, "Genius." And another drilling sound. Panthro sighed exasperated, putting his hand to his head and shaking it. After a moment, Tygra pulled himself up from underneath the tank and moved into the seat next to Panthro's. "There." He smirked and looked at him. "Fire it up!" Panthro did as asked pulling back on the wheel hoping to somehow power up the book. Everything seemed to work fine as the tank's electronic systems were up and running, some kind of displaying projected from the book but then smoke and sparks came from it making short-circuit, and the tank shut down. A loud popping sound came from behind them, and the two looked back to see the engine had given out again.

Tygra grimaced, looking at the smoking book. "We're gonna be here a while…"

"Let us hope your brother's having more luck finding supplies." Panthro sighed.

Lion-O and company travelled far away the woods walking now on dried soil surrounded by leafless trees, Snarf walked very close to Lion-O's feet looking everywhere with a frighten look and Pumyra walked one step behind.

Neither dared to start a conversation and that worried the young King, so he tried doing something to make her talk to him and slowed his pace so he would walk beside her and not in front of her. Discouraging as it was she noticed and slowed down too keeping herself behind the lion.

So he went straight to the point instead. "Why are you avoiding me?" He stopped turning to face her.

"What?" The puma sounded almost surprised.

"You've been silent the whole way…"

"So have you." She got him there.

Lion-O paused to think of what to say next while Snarf looked at them very confused. "Well, I…Why won't you walk beside me?" Was the best he could think of.

Now was her turn to make something up…"You're the King. You lead the way."

"The way to where?" He returned. "Neither of us knows where we're going."

Seeing he had a point she said nothing. Both said nothing for a while. Then silence building was interrupted by Snarf's whining getting the two to stare at him. "What is it, Snarf?" The lion asked.

Pumyra looked ahead following the cat pet's gaze and pointed. "Look." Lion-O turned round and looked up at the front gate of a strange-looking town; the wall surrounding the town was made of broken sword blades, and at the top of the gate rested a skull with two swords going through it and a crow resting in it. They stared at it as if it was a ghost town.

"I've heard stories about towns like this." Lion-O said suddenly, looking up at the gate. "Just never _seen_ one before."

"We travelled this far to get…_here." _The female sounded anything but amused about the place.

"Like you said; we travelled a long way. The least we can do is take a look around." The King said with a simple smile. The crow in the gate sounded loudly making Snarf squeal in fear, grabbing Lion-O's leg. He smiled down at his friend, "Don't worry, Snarf. We'll get what we need for the tank and leave."

"He's not the only one with a bad feeling about this place." Pumyra muttered.

"Think you can land a hand…friends?" The cats looked around bet couldn't find whoever had spoken. "Up here." They looked up and saw a rabbit person hanging from one of the blades of the wall. "I seem to have snagged myself. Again." He seemed of ragged appearance with messy long dark brown hair, he wore an old duster, a vest and a scarf; with a willow vine in his mouth.

Lion-O and Pumyra looked at him strangely, noticing how his body swayed like a leaf in the breeze. "What are y-" Lion-O cut himself off. "Who are you?"

"Just a drifter. I suppose." The rabbit said in a content, lazy tone.

"Aren't you gonna help him, your Majesty?" The puma girl asked over his shoulder.

"Oh! Right." The young King jumped up onto the wall, carefully not to cut himself with any of the blades and unhooked the drifter tossing him into the air. They watched him floating around like a piece of paper, landing on a fence in a relaxing position next to Pumyra and Snarf.

Lion-O came down and the rabbit smiled at him. "Thanks for the assist."

"Maybe you can return the favor." Lion-O said. "We're looking for supplies."

"Well, find them somewhere else." The drifter said response surprised the two cats. "This is a _swordsman's_ town, stranger and they duel for keeps." He lay back on the fence. "Leave, before it's too late." He turned over on his side, away from them, then turned his head to look at Lion-O. "Or don't. I don't care." And turned back on his side again.

The Lord of the Thundercats didn't seem to mind his words as he pulled the Sword of Omens out of his gauntlet in its dagger form. "I can handle myself all right."

The drifter chuckled. "This town _loves_ guys like you." He turned back to face the lion. "_Swaggering_ around with your fancy sword, thinking you can't lose." The smile on his face never leaving as he spoke to him. "But you _will_." Lion-O's confident grin fell slightly as he looked at the rabbit. "They all do."

"This is more than a _fancy _sword." Lion-O assured him with his grin back on his face. "It's the Sword of Omens, and with it, I _never_ lose."

"Just like I said," The rabbit began with his laid-back tone, "Take my advice and blow on out of here." He shrugged, "Or don't. I don't care." A current of wind blew and lifted the drifter up into the air taking him farther away. The cats stood at the entrance of the town staring at the drifter's path with a curious look on their faces.

"What a strange guy…" Pumyra commented once he was gone. Snarf mewed in agreement.

"Yeah…" Lion-O added before heading into town. "Let's go."

They entered the place finding all kind of creatures and people, some of them didn't even resembling animals at all; they looked like as if they came from a fairytale. _Third Earthlings, _if you would_._

Soon they found the town's marketplace and went to the first vendor they spotted and asked him for supplies which the vendor nonchalantly handed to them. The puma looked surprised as the lion took some coins out of his pocket to pay for them.

"I didn't know you carried those around." She said.

"That's because we haven't need to pay for anything until now." Lion-o answered with a carefree expression.

"A Thunderian shilling, eh?" The vendor said while looked over the coins. "I'm sorry, but we don't deal with _antiques._" And tossed the coin back to the cat.

"Antiques?" Pumyra questioned as her eyes narrowed.

"But Thunderian coins where once the most prized in the land." Lion-O told the vendor.

"And now they're relics of a fallen empire." The vendor replied. His words about their _once_ home got to the female nerves as she approached the table in a threatening way.

"And now I'll make you fall over your-"

"Pumyra!" The young King called her off dragging her away from the table by the arm. Once he let go she crossed her arms reluctantly over her chest with an unhappy look on her face. "Now what are we gonna do for money?" Lion-O asked himself as he saved his coins back into his pocket.

"What everyone else here does." The vendor overheard them and pointed at a small crowd gathered around a square pillar stone in the main square. "Sword competition."

As they looked closer they saw the stone was covered in scratches from different blades and someone among the crowd stepped up facing it with a sword in his hand. They saw as the man stroke the stone with no result.

The puma girl huffed. "_That's _what they call competition?" She then turned to Lion-O.

He smirked at the vendor and headed to the square with his friends close behind. They blended in the crowd, watching as different contestants came forward with their swords.

A young jackal was next, pulling out a sword that was the same sizes as he was. He slashed the stone with it leaving a large crack. The crowd around the sword cheered for him while a small creature came up and measured the length of the cut by a ruler tattoo on his arm, neither of the cats looked amused at him. When the small guy was done measuring the length of the mark he gestured to the jackal, showing a new leader in the contest.

"Nice, but nothing compares to_ my_ sword!" A pig said, coming up with a skinny and curved blade. He charged at the stone with it and tried to slash it but instead of cutting through the stone, the sword shattered and broke into pieces. The crowd laughed at his defeat, still no reaction from the lion but the female had to suppress her laughter.

Lion-O's expression changed as he eyed the next competitor, who wielded the rarest sword until now. Of a black blade, the sword had a strange design that resembled a group of sharp razor-like waves. The swordsman ran at the stone and slashed his sword through it, leaving the deepest cut yet made.

"Is there no one else who will accept the challenge?" The small man asked looking into the crowd after measuring the cut.

Lion-O felt even more confident now and winked at his female friend much like his brother would do and stepped through the people."I accept." He said, walking forward. Whispers surrounded him as he went up to the small man, the people around looked curious about this new competitor whom none of them had seen before.

"Do you have anything to say?" The man asked the young lion, wondering if he wanted to brag about his sword like the others had.

"Only to the other competitors." Lion-O said before he turned to the crowd and loudly declared, "You're all vying for second place!" The crowd laughed at his confidence, thinking he would lose for sure. He then pulled out the Sword of Omens, lengthening it and he walked towards the pillar stone, unaware of the pair of red eyes watching him with most interest among the crowd.

Pumyra shared some of the lion confidence in the great sword and picked Snarf up in her arms so he could have a better view. Lion-O slashed at the stone, and then sheathed his sword again. The crowd began to laugh again at his attempt, thinking he had done nothing to the boulder. Only the cats say nothing and soon everyone else followed their example as they heard a cracking noise and saw the boulder split in two, and fell to the ground on either side.

The crowd cheered loudly for the lion as no one could ever surpass sword's feat. Lion-O turned to the small man who didn't bothered to measure the mark this time. "Now, where do I get my money?" The man smiled as he held up a bag of money to him, and he gladly took it.

Pumyra walked up to him from the crowd with the little feline still in her arms. It tickled for her when he wanted to jump off of her into his friend in congrats. "Nice job." She said.

Lion-O smiled at her and both walked to the marketplace and to a certain vendor for their supplies. This time he dropped some coins into his hand and the vendor accepted them.

"Impressive victory." A manly voice said. The cats turned around to see a tall man with light purple skin and a handlebar mustache, with a sharp gaze. He seemed to sport some kind of uniform and a shield that held many swords in his back. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm the duelist." He then acknowledged the red-maned lion. "You, my friend, have something I desire."

Lion-O and Pumyra exchanged looks and then turned at him. "Sorry. Snarf's not for sale." The first said grinning. Snarf howled and hid behind his legs, trying to hide from the stranger.

"Your sword against my best blade." The duelist said pointing at the golden gauntlet in the lion's belt. "Winner takes all."

Pumyra eyed the man carefully, something bugged her about him. And soon she knew what it was. "I don't like this." She said to her King ignoring the duelist's presence.

"Don't worry, Pumyra." Lion-O said serious but relaxed. "I wasn't interested anyway." Then turned to the purple skinned man. "I've already proven I've got the best sword in town."

"Indeed." The duelist agreed. "The Sword of Omens is legendary, even in these parts. But it's not the sword that needs to prove itself…It's you."

"You're just trying to provoke him." Pumyra said with a small growl, the duelist looked at her and smiled smoothly.

"I'm not changing my mind." Lion-O said sharply.

"A wise decision." The duelist returned. "Perhaps if the last owner of that sword shared your cowardice, he'd still be alive."

The two Thundercats growled in their throats. While the lion was holding the bag with the supplies, nothing stopped the puma girl from launching at him furiously. The duelist saw her coming ready to deliver a punch but she missed when he ducked effortless and as in a gesture to unsheathe the sword he's got attached to his waist, he hit her with the kilt in her mid zone. Pumyra gave one step back holding the sore area as the duelist regained his posture.

"In this town, it's the swords that fight. Not the fists." He grinned at the female cat and looked up to the other cat waiting.

"Alright." The young King said still angry at his words. "You might as well hand over your best sword right now."

"The town square. High noon." The man said and walked away.

"You sure got guts." The vendor said while Lion-O helped Pumyra up. "The duelist is a legend in these parts. The swords he carry; they're trophies from all those who fought and lost to him. He is without conscience or morals, and he won't stop until his thirst is slaked. Now, he wants _your_ sword, and it _will_ be his."

The lion's eyes fixed on the duelist's back. "Whiskers…"He coursed under his breath.

A few miles away from there, Tygra finished with some adjustments on the Book of Omens and the tank systems. "I think I got it right this time." His voice came throaty from under the controls as he sat up on his seat.

"You know this is like the fourth time you say that, right?" Panthro eyed him.

"Come on, just give it another try." The tiger said optimistic. The General pulled on the controls again turning on the engine and electronic systems, the lights in the console turned on. So far so good, but Panthro's face truly lighten up when they heard the purring sound from behind the tank and the holographic display on the book not shutting down this time.

"Thank Claudus!" The panther sighed in relief and turned to the prince. "Nice work, kid." Tygra smirked proudly.

"It seems things are looking up." The two cats looked back and saw Cheetara and the twins back. "Where are Lion-O and Pumyra?"

The kids also looked around. "And Snarf?" Kit asked.

"I sent them to look for supplies." Panthro told them.

"That was hours ago." The cleric said slightly worried.

"Yeah, but don't worry." Tygra said as he sat back relaxing on his seat. "Now that _I _fixed the Thundertank we can go after them."

"Not so fast." Panthro jumped. "Yes, we have the fuel to go around but don't forget we still need the proper instruments to keep my baby on shape." He sound focused but a moment but the sound of the engine finally got to him. "Then again, we can still take it for a nice and easy run." He said carried away but the stare from Cheetara's eyes brought him back. "Oh, yeah. And we can go look for those two too. Right, they headed west." He said focused again as he turned the wheel.

As they came out of the woods they found a group of clouds partly covered the sky giving a gray aspect to the atmosphere and the air became wet as the Thundertank reached the river side. They definitely didn't follow the same path as the other Thundercats did.

"Hey, look!" As they came closer to the large beach Willykat pointed at a big manor nearby the shore. "Maybe that's where Lion-O and Pumyra went."

Cheetara heard him and addressed the panther. "Let's go and ask if someone there saw them."

Panthro parked the Thundertank away from the sand way so it would not get to the tank's tracks. Tygra and Cheetara got out first but were outrun by the Thunderkittens who race to the manor. Tygra saw them as he put his hand to his head and shaking it.

The cheetah eyed him with a sympathetic smile and the two continued their way to the house as Panthro caught up with them. When they reached the door, Kit and Kat were already pulling from a big metal ring that looked like the door's knob.

"Maybe there's no one home." Tygra commented after waiting awhile with no answer from inside.

The Willies switched their ears as they caught something far away. "Wait a sec." Kat waned and the two kids circled the building towards the backyard. The adults followed them and found the continuation of the river's course and the beach. Also, they found the source of the sound the cubs heard.

Down the path there was a male _Third Earthling _of yellow skin and brown beard and moustache, he wore an old green duster under a white armor covering his chest and hips. Nest to him was a boy resembling very much the older one like father and son. They were both wielding swords and seem like the Thundercats had found them in the middle of a training session.

"I don't think they have seen them." Panthro said arm-crossed.

"It won't hurt to ask." Tygra said moving toward the shore. Cheetara followed him with Kit and Kat after her.

As they showed up, the man stopped his movements and lowered his blade indicating the boy to do the same. "Um, hi. Sorry to interrupt." The tiger say showing they have come in peace.

The two men looked at them half shocked getting the cat's attention. The younger one looked a bit frightful as he lowered his gaze and saw the twins smiling and waving at him friendly, the boy then felt more relaxed and smiled back when he's father spoke. "Forgive the staring, strangers. It's the first time my son has seen cats in his live." The Thundercats looked at one another and back at the man. "Please, what can we help you with?"

"We're looking for our friends." Tygra offered.

"More cats, like you?" They heard the little boy speaking from behind his father.

The tiger prince narrowed his eyes at the boy scarring him a bit but without intention to. The cleric noticed the boy was just curious and decided to speak for her friend. "Yes, they're a male and female in company of a little red and yellow-haired pet."

Father and son looked at each other with questioning looks. "Sorry we haven't seen any cats around here." The father said.

"We understand." The cleric said.

"Hey, you know how to sword battle?" Willykat came from behind the cheetah staring at the boy's sword.

He looked at the cub with a timid face and thus answered with a timid voice. "Yes…well, no." He rubbed his neck looking up to his father. "My dad's teaching me actually."

Panthro eyed the two men's swords and their poor aspect. "Well, I'm not much of a blacksmith but I know about weapons and those sure don't look like good metal to me. If the boy keeps training with them he could get hurt." The other cats stared at him both impressed and shocked making the panther feel awkward. "I'm just saying." He muttered looking away.

The older man smiled bashfully at him. "Yes I made these myself but…I'm not a blacksmith myself either. I am, however, a good swordsman and just attempting to pass my knowledge to my son."

Tygra thought about the man's words and remembered his father and his teaching when he grew up. "To be a good swordsman you must have a good sword." He stated.

"My dad had it, and he was the best swordsman of these parts but he lost it in a duel when I was much younger." The boy said.

The cats noted the sad expression on the man's face as his son mentioned the lost sword. "Yes…it was on my way out of a town not far from here. I crossed paths with this man and asked to duel with me for our swords and as you now know, I lost. But the worst part is that my sword was the mean my son and I got to get our supplies and food and we've been having some complications ever since I lost it."

The Thundercats then turned around following the man's eyes and paying more attention to the bad shape of their manor. The walls had some scratched on the painting and a hole here and there on the wooded roof not to mention their own clothing.

"What you mean the sword was your way to get the things you need?" Willykit asked concerned.

"As you can see here we have no conditions to work the earth to grow our food so we get most of our supplies and consumables from a town not far from here. But to get there we have to cross a dangerous path crowded with all kind of beasts and rough terrain. With my sword I was able to face any of those beasts but…now you see our predicament." The man told them.

Cheetara analyzed the path's direction heading west and also acknowledged there was a town on the other side. "I think there is a way for us to help you."

Everyone, not only the two Third Earthlings stared at her with wide eyes.

"You can really help us?" The young boy asked.

Cheetara addressed father and son before saying. "In thanks, for helping us."

"Uh?" The man irked a brown. "And how did we do that, miss?"

Panthro then spoke up. "Oh, I get it. If that's the only town around then our friends must be there."

"Clever." Tygra smirked at the blonde female and turned to the two men. "Alright, we'll take you to town."

On the swordsmen town Lion-O took Pumyra and Snarf to an unused blacksmith's forgery somewhere along the sharp wall of the town. The lion practiced swinging his sword for his duel that was just an hour away, while Pumyra watched him leaning against the wall of the forgery, with arms crossed and putting all of her weight on one leg while crossing the other one across the ankle she was putting her weight on. Next to her Snarf sat on a pile of broken metal, once meant to be worked into swords, watching his master as well. Still, it was not the duel what was on the puma's mind but the insults the duelist used to get to it.

"How dare he talking about the late King like that?" She definitely held a grudge against the duelist now and her frustration couldn't stop her from speaking her thoughts out loud, yet it didn't distract Lion-O from his exercises. The cat pet looked up at her then at him and let out a small, worried meow.

"Run?" Lion-o turned to his friend. "I'm no coward, Snarf." And continued swinging, "Besides, someone needs to teach that guy a lesson." He held up his sword with a grin, "He may be tough, but nothing the duelist has in his scabbard can beat the Sword of Omens."

The lion's cockiness added to the girl's bad humor and she forcefully lifted herself from the wall and stood on her feet sharply. "You should've paid more attention to _that_ guy, you know?"

Shocked by her words Lion-O stopped his practice and turned back. "Excuse me?"

"Although it makes me sick to admit it, he is right." She said.

"About what?" The young King asked reluctantly.

"All I see you do is swing that sword like it's the only thing that could actually touch him." Pumyra walked up to him closer getting to be face-to-face with him. "And even if the Sword of Omens can beat him, can you?"

Lion-O couldn't believe her talking to him like that and though he wouldn't admit it, her words got to a very deep spot within him. All he did was to stare at her. The small doubt hidden in his eyes and he disguised it with a severe look. "

"A sword…" The puma girl started. "Any sword on its own can do nothing."

"I said it once and I'll say it again." He snapped. "With the Sword of Omens in my hands I can't lose. This sword was my father's, the Lord of the Thundercats. _My _sword."

Their glaring faces were inches away until the female stepped back, keeping the glare on her eyes. "King Claudus became King because of the cat he was, not because of the sword."

"Oh, now you wanna talk about my father too?!" Lion-O yelled at her. "You didn't even know him!"

"I didn't know him but I did meet him!" Pumyra shouted back. "Yes, I met him only once and it was all it took for me to know it, _that_ much of a King he was!" She couldn't hide how frustrated she felt right now which only leaved Lion-O more confused and furious. "I ran up against the duelist and after one hit and the look in his eyes I understood he's no one to toy with…think about that."

The young King looked at the puma as she started walking away. "Where are you going?"

"To leave you these last moments to practice…see if you can prepare yourself and not the sword."

The lion stood there still looking at the direction she took. Snarf whined sadly.

.

First part of The Duelist and the Drifter. Must say this is 'till now the most exciting episode I'm rewriting, mostly because, as you can see, all the things I put into it. On my retelling this two-parted episodes it's the first one to feature a good mount of couple-development…LiMyra being the first (TyChee will have its own as well in a few more chaps ahead. So don't worry fans out there!) I got so carried away with this chap that I had to cut it somewhere some time; as a result I think this is the worst cliffhanger of all until now D:

Well enough of my babbling and thanks for reviews! :)


	11. The Strongest Weakness

A/N: I suggest you read the last few line of the previous chapter before starting this one. Just to refresh the memory a little. ;)

.

"Spicy. Your girlfriend, that is." A vagabond voice came from behind making the lion turn on his heels. "Mind helping down?" The ragged-looking rabbit waved his hand at him snagged on a blade on the wall again.

"Drifter…" Lion-O let out looking up to him. "She's not- forget it, you two probably think the same way; I never should've accepted the duelist's challenge."

"I don't remember the lady telling you not to fight." The rabbit said.

"You spied on us?" The cat questioned.

"To do that I would have to care about whatever it is you want to do. Not my case." The drifter denied, "And why would I care? After all, _you're_ the one who's going to _lose _his sword, not me."

"I can swing steel a lot better than you think." Lion-O pointed out stroking the air a few times with his sword. He also would have dedicated those words to the absent puma as well, if she's had stayed.

"You could've fooled me with those moves." The rabbit said. He reached up and pulled the willow vine out of his mouth, "You couldn't even split this reed."

"You're crazy!" Lion-O told him. "Did you see what this sword did to that boulder?"

The drifter chuckled. "If I only had your spirit." And put the reed back in his mouth. "But the fight left me long ago. How about I give you three swings?"

"I'll do it in one." Lion-O assured, crouched and picked up a bigger reed and had it hook onto the back of the rabbit's scarf that had him stuck up on the wall then lowered him to ground level in front of him. The Drifter stood still waiting for Lion-O's assault, and his eyes opened wider than usual to see the lion charge at him with the sword.

When he swung his blade, the drifter jumped up and avoided it, floating around in the air like he normally did. "That's one." He said then after landing..."Could've warned me first, but you're impatient, I can tell." Lion-O growled and charged at him a second time, the rabbit effortlessly jumped up in the air over Lion-O's head and behind his shoulder. "Two. I guess there is such thing as trying _too_ hard. That's why I prefer not trying at all." Lion-O tensed up at the calm sound of his voice and turned around stroking his swords at him multiple times but not succeeding at touching the reed. "Well, that was more than three, but I don't care." He smiled like he always did. "I made my point."

"There was a point?" Lion-O asked, panting from all of his effort.

"Willows are weak." The drifter said as his fingers barely brushed the reed in his mouth. "Yet they bind other wood. Just some advice, take it or leave it." He reached up and put his fingers on the reed, not pulling it out, "A weakness can be turned into a strength. A lesson you won't understand until it's too late." He sighed. "You're just like _he_ was."

"The duelist?" Lion-O asked.

"No, the original owner of the sword the duelist now uses. The Sword of Hatanzou." And so the drifter began relating. "Forged by who some called the greatest sword maker of all time." The look in his eyes changed completely as if he was reminiscing. "The sword maker lived a lonely life, devoted only to one thing: his craft. But this particular blade was more than a sword; it was a work of art. His most prized possession, and proudest achievement. The Sword of Hatanzou. Like you, he felt a sense of oneness with the weapon. With it, he was unstoppable. He _thought_. Word spread of the legendary blade, one day, the duelist appeared and challenged the sword maker to a fight. He accepted…In his hubris, the sword maker believed the strength of his sword would overcome his weakness as a warrior. He was mistaken, and it cost him the one thing he valued most. To know that his work of art, his _masterpiece_, would be in the hands of a villain like the duelist _crushed_ him. He never made another sword, while the duelist went on to become the greatest swordsman to ever walk the land."

"Whatever became of the sword maker?" Lion-O asked.

"Who knows?" The rabbit let out with a shrug. "Some say he just _drifts_ around, blowing wherever the wind takes him. A shell of the man he once was."

Lion-O's eyes widened when he realized who the drifter was talking about. "You…I'm fighting against the sword _you_ forged!" His eyebrows narrowed both in anger at the duelist because of the story and in frustration of not knowing how to improve his fighting to confront his blade. "I need your help. How can I beat the Sword of Hatanzou?" By then the usual smile on the rabbit's lips was now gone, as if it had never been there at all. When his silence only made Lion-O angrier, he demanded raising his voice. "_How can I beat it?_!"

"You can't. Understand?" The drifter returned finally with a firm tone. "Nobody can…" He turned his back on the lion and walked away.

Lion-O stared at his going silhouette, now filled with uncertainty again. The same way Pumyra made him feel.

The young King sat next to Snarf for a sec to re-think things through. If he couldn't get the responsible for the sword's existence to help him defeat it, he had to consider what his female friend said: The duelist was no one to play around…Lion-O's eyes became focused and serious. He knew this was no game anyway.

As noon was coming near, he stood up and went to the agreed place at the town's square with his cat-pet friend. The Duelist was already, of course, standing in the middle of the soon-to-be-arena when his opponent showed up with a loud whistle going off from a nearby factory, announcing the agreed time.

"Punctual." The swordsman said smirking. "I like that." Lion-O pulled out his sword and held it ready while the duelist's eyes looked around him, ignoring Snarf watching from inside a porch nearby. "No witnesses, I see. Did I hurt your friend a little too much? Or you didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of her?"

The lion's teeth clenched as his voice came out throaty. "She's none of your concern, I should be."

The grin on the man's face widened looking even more impish than before. "Whenever you're ready then."

"Whenever you are." Lion-O returned.

"Fine." The smile from the duelist's face vanished. "Draw."

Lion-O charged towards him aiming the tip of his sword at him. The Sword of Omens came in touch with the ground as the duelist avoided the strike by jumping into the air, shocking the lion by his impressive reflex. In mid-air the duelist drew two swords from the shield on his back and pointed them down on the lion, which quickly rolled out of the way.

Without being noticed by anyone, the drifter arrived at some point before the lion did, watching the duel like Snarf did, resting himself against a door frame. Lion-O kept going with his sword at the duelist swinging his blade back and forth but the duelist missed them all bending from one side to the other making the cat only waste his energy.

"Not much of a swordsman, are you?" The purple skinned man taunted behind his blades.

Lion-O growled as he noticed his breathing quickening. His mind was too concerned on his next move that didn't see the duelist coming at him with great speed. The lion tried to stop him by stroking his sword but once again his opponent jumped up away from the blade over his head, landing behind Lion-O as well as backing him up into a wall. The cat blocked a blow coming to him with his claw-shield but a second blow from the duelist sent the Sword of Omens plunging into the ceiling of the building, holding his other blade to his throat. The Lord of the Thundercats did not move, knowing he had been defeated. The duelist reached up and took the sword off the ceiling, turning his back on him he walked away sliding his trophy into his scabbard. Lion-O flopped down on the ground, watching as the duelist walked into the blowing wind and disappeared.

Snarf joined him sitting on the porch meowing trying to comfort him but his mind just couldn't stop going over what just happened. "What have a done? Without the Sword of Omens our mission is doomed…" Acknowledging his mistake Lion-O stopped feeling sorry for himself and got to his feet. "I've got to win it back!"

His feline friend tugged at his breeches with worried eyes. It didn't took the lion long to share his exact thoughts.

"What was I thinking?" The puma girl said aloud. Lion-O wasn't the only one thinking about their actions. Pumyra left the blacksmith's forgery feeling upset because of her stubborn King, but then she also realized she was angry at her too, for letting herself get carried away by the duelist's insults. After all, she had her pride too. Walking through the town's alleyways gave her time to think, making the anger grow smaller and a bit of guilt pervaded her senses.

She stopped for a moment and noticed the orange sun in the light brown sky, common of those parts, telling her noon has past. Lion-O had surely ended his match with the duelist. But that was not her main interest; her mind was more on the thought of asking the young Lord to forgive her rude manners before leaving him to his luck. Weather the outcome of the battle was, she didn't even thought about it.

She turned on her heels and into the first corner and walked between two houses where twelve feet away some locals standing in a circle seemed to be dividing some kind of loot between them. Two of them, dead-looking Third Earthlings, the third was a bulky boar and the last a tall thin salamander with an axe-blade sword he held resting on his shoulder. Not the most pretty of people to encounter there.

One of them lifted his gaze spotting the female cat standing some feet behind them. One of the two men poked his friend in the shoulder making him turn around and look at her too. Now the four were staring at her. The puma stared at them back with an impressed look in her eyes, but not _that_ impressed.

"Look what we've got here." The boar said with a chuckle.

"What's it doing a pretty kitty like you wondering here?" The Third Earthling with an eye patch said.

Pumyra glared at them, now with a dead serious look to her. All of them approached her splitting into two pair both sides of her. "Never seen a beast like you in this town. I though the cats were over along with their _better-than-the-rest_ so-called empire." Said the eye patched swordsman.

And then she thought, so this far the tales of the fallen kingdom has gotten. She raised her firsts expecting any of them to make a move on her…'cause it looked like that's what they pretended.

The other man smirked humorously thinking she saw this coming to her from the beginning, maybe the look on their vicious faces gave her the clue. Fact that made his and his fellows ego increase.

"You have no chance." The salamander grinned deviously holding his weapon out.

The others came closer and closer. "In this town, only the swords do battle." The boar commented unsheathing his own sword.

"So, I keep hearing." The cat said watching all of their moves cautiously. One of the two none animals of the small group charged first and stroke his long golden blade at her.

The female deflected the attack using the crossbow around her wrist like a shield and sidestepped him, sending her knee to his ribs. The swordsman dropped his weapon to hold up his stomach as she reached for the blade with her claws and kicked him on his back making him fall with his face to the ground.

"I meet with your expectations now, don't I?" The puma girl pointed facing the other three with the sword in her hand.

The boar and the man engaged in a sword battle with her, clashing back and forward while the cat blocked and stroked back whenever she found an opening. The salamander watched the cat's ability with the blade and reached for a bunch of chains over a barrel to his felt. The reptile swung the metal in the air and threw it at her trapping and immobilizing her armed arm. The other two saw the opening and attacked, Pumyra dodged the first blow. The second got to scratch her left arm tracing a thin line of red on it.

It didn't hurt much, but the wound made her growl angrily in her throat. She ran forward and continued to battle the three swordsmen. The man she first knocked on the floor was getting up as he drew a second sword from his belt; he looked over his shoulder at his group fighting the cat and noted she wasn't looking so he charged forward aiming to stroke her with the blade.

Pumyra's ears caught his fast stepping coming from behind and thought it was what she needed to end this fight. She threw her sword shocking the boar who barely dodged it and jumped up flipping backwards in the air over the swordsman head letting him crash against the other three. She landed outside the alley they were struggling, reveling to her victory that wouldn't notice the peddler racing in her direction. She stared in shock at it about to run her over when someone from the other side of the street grabbed her and took her out of the way. Her rescuer let her put her feet back on the ground after the peddler was gone as she looked who that was.

"Lion-O?..."

The young King took her hand and glanced at the stalking swordsmen on the other side of the alleyway. "Come on!" Taking her away from there.

They soon lost them running around a corner in front of a large house where Snarf was waiting. The little pet came to them and rubbed his head against the female's leg.

"That was close." The lion said. He was relief for saving her. Sort of. But he didn't sound nor looked like it.

Pumyra noticed the distress in his face and then the empty claw-shield attached to his hip. "Something you wanna tell me?" She inquired raising a brow at him.

The lion sighed frustrated but he was thankful she wasn't yelling at him this time. He requested her to sit down on the house's porch and told her what happened. She listened to him and watched him walk to the right and the left as he explained, once he finished he lowered his head waiting his deserved 'I told you so'.

Half hour ago she would have spit it out on his face, half hour ago…instead she said. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Lion-O stared at her wide-eyed. "Didn't you head me? I lost the Sword of Omens."

"I did. Still, I need to get this out of my chest." She returned formally. "I shouldn't have talk to you like that, I crossed the line."

He stood there looking bewildered. After a moment of silence he started to feel guilty again, this time not for losing the sword. "But you were right." Pumyra looked at him walking over to sit beside her, with just Snarf between them. "I went to that duel relying completely on my sword…instead of relying on myself as I should have. The sword doesn't make the King…"

He's made his mistakes before, still looking at him like this made something hurt inside her, though she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Snarf looked between them and suddenly jumped out of his spot so there was nothing between the two Thunderians now. The female looked at the little pet confused as he waved his hand indicating her to go on.

She wondered why she was feeling so nervous. Turning to see the lion next to her she got up and him lifted his eyes to see her. "We're not getting out of this town until you win the sword back." She tried to sound confident but wouldn't looked back at him.

"I can't."

Surprised by his words she did look at him.

"What?" She questioned. "Because you don't have a sword? There are dozens in this town."

"It's not that…The Sword of Hatanzou can't be defeated." The puma narrowed her eyes in confusion hearing the name of the weapon. "And that's not all; he beat me fair and square."

"That's not true." Pumyra protested. "You were not fighting the duelist, you were fighting yourself!" Her words snapped the lion out of his doubts.

"Can you believe it? Stuck again."

The three turned to see the rabbit hanging on a wooden fence with his scarf stuck between the boards. "Could one of you help me down?" He asked vaguely. "Or may you should just leave me here. Either way, I don't care."

Lion-O went over to him and pulled him off the fence, lying him down on a pile of wood. The drifter laid there comfortably with his eyes closed. The puma girl came up to the lion's side.

"I need you to make me a sword." Lion-O told him.

"Why would _he_ make you a sword?" Pumyra asked skeptically.

"Because he is the one who forged the duelist's sword." The lion King answered glaring at the rabbit lying in front of them. "Should I call you _Hatanzou_, now?" The female cat turned to the unfazed rabbit.

"I haven't been that in a very long time." The drifter said. "Since the lady wasn't there I suppose I have to remind you I gave you my warnings…yet I see they were just a breeze that blew through your ears." He paused. "I didn't think you'd listen, but if you expect me to help, you haven't been_ paying attention_."

Pumyra was having enough of his calm and careless behavior, and she would have put her hands on him if her King wouldn't have been standing between them. "We both lost something precious." Lion-O said. "But we can get it back."

The drifter opened one eye to look at him then sighed, closing his eye again. "Sounds like too much work."

"Fine." Lion-O returned. "Then I'll do it myself." His friends looked at him in surprise as he walked away. Pumyra looked back at the rabbit, who returned her stare.

She thought it twice before laying her claws on him and asked. "What was your warning about the duelist?"

The drifter pretended to be bored and said. "I told him about the willows…"

"What is it about them?" She asked.

"They are weak." He simply said.

The puma girl found nothing helpful in his words. "Lion-O is not weak!" She griped

The rabbit reminded quiet just lying comfortable there. "And that's the problem…" Pumyra huffed as talking with him was a waste of time. "You're putting too much effort into it, just like the boy." The drifter said suddenly. "You should try laying back and let the wind trace your actions…it's easier that way." He explained and then the breeze lifted his body as usual and carried him away.

She stood watching as the drifter went away being reassured about her first lecture on him as she couldn't figure out if he was truly trying to help them: he really was a estrange person.

Taking Snarf with her they walked away from there, looking for the Lord of the Thundercats.

"Are we there yet?"

"No." Panthro replied to the Thunderkittens pleading.

"We're been on the road for hours." Kit complained.

"We can't go too fast or we would awake the creatures that dwell here, missy." The cats' new companion told her.

"And that's a bad thing because…" Kat started.

"I won't let any unnecessary damage happen to my baby." The driver added grumpily.

The Thundertank went through the rocky path slow and steady, avoiding the bumps on the track was not easy, considering the tank still needed some important repairing. Sometimes Panthro couldn't help to stumble on the bumps making the tank trembling a little.

Cheetara was watching from the open hatch looking for farther obstacles when she saw a group of mounts ahead on their way. "Panthro, there are small mountains straight ahead." She alerted him.

The General fixed his eyes on the road and so did the man standing behind his seat. "Those are not mountains." The man said fearfully.

As they got closer they spotted holes all over the mounts, which were tunnels for whatever dwelled inside. A large group of ant-like monsters came out flicking the pincers coming out of their mouths, their sizes outgrew the Thundertank's considerably.

"Those things are huge!" Kit pointed out climbing to the co-pilot seat. Panthro couldn't find a way around them so he went in straight line revving up his tank hoping they would escape. He aimed the tank to one of the ant creatures hopping to get pass through its long furry legs but another one threw its pincers at it and held the vehicle in the air.

"It got us!" Tygra came from the bright with the Third Earthling boy. "We have to do something quick!" He demanded handing his laser pistol.

"No, don't." The father stopped him from going out of the tank. "You can't go out there. Even if you take one of them you can't take them all." He warned. The tiger looked angrily at him being bidden to do nothing to help their situation, the man looked intently at him and assured him. "Trust me; I know what I'm saying."

"He is right." The cleric came down from the hatch and stepped next to them. "Whatever we try to do, we can't get out." She added seriously.

The three of them turned at the sound of Panthro from the cockpit. "Meaning, it's all up to the Thundertank then." Tightening his grip on the wheels he re-started the tank heating up the turbine on the back, making it spit flames into the giant ant's mouth. "Brace yourself people!" He warned, throwing more fire until the monster dropped the tank letting it fall at a great distance.

Inside the main cabin, Kit and Kat did _literally _as Panthro said and embraced each other on their side of the couch. Father secured his son inside his arms as well. About to hit the ground, Cheetara held to her seat when she felt a strong grip on her hand. She opened her eyes and saw Tygra holding tightly next to her. Inadvertently the young cleric let escaped a small smile toward him relieved he was there beside her. Everyone held their breaths when the tank crashed to the earth making all of them do a little jump onto their seats.

"Um…Are we dead yet?" The boy asked sticking his head out of his father's embrace.

"I don't think so…" Willykit said after letting go of her brother. After a second, Kat cleared his throat making all of them to look at the adult cats still holding hands.

Tygra and Cheetara let go at the same time, the first hiding the little blush on his cheeks. Meanwhile the blonde cat noted concerned. "We're not moving."

The tiger prince got up from his spot into the cockpit. "Come on, Panthro, they're coming!"

"Don't you think I know that?" The panther hissed. He pressed some buttons on the console and turned on some keys but instead of starting the tank they heard the engine roaring rudely. "Come on...Come one…"

The Thundertank was still as the creatures approached them. Willykat stormed into the room and looked at the controls. "Come'on, move, you piece of junk!"

The cub stretched his leg backwards. Panthro foreshadowed was he was about to do and his eyes grew wider. "DON'T!"

Not stopping him fast enough Kat kicked the console probably damaging the vehicle even more now. Then the tank kept roaring but now the sound was smooth, and as Panthro pulled from the wheel it started to move away from the ants.

"Yeah!" The kitten jumped grinning. Panthro let out a big sigh happy his tank was ok.

From the bridge Cheetara adverted the Thundertank was moving again and back on the road then smiled at father and son. "Seems we'll see the end of the way after all."

"Thank you." The man smiled content and turned to see his son smiling at him as well.

Panthro and Tygra lifted their gazes to the screen on the console watching the other end of the path, a grin of satisfaction formed on their faces.

"How's the tank doing, Panthro?" Tygra asked.

His friend did not turn to look at him. "Let's go get those two back with the supplies." It seems their luck reached its peak after that risky trip and the General couldn't wait to get to the swordsmen town fast enough.

Pumyra followed Snarf as if he knew were exactly Lion-O was and took her back to the unused blacksmith's forgery he was training earlier. They heard metal clanging coming from inside, the puma girl opened the door and both saw Lion-O pounding away at a piece of heated metal with a mallet. The red-haired pet stared worried as Lion-O was not the best blacksmith, he wasn't a blacksmith to begin with. Pumyra stared intently at him too and wanted to stop him, but she also didn't want to be more discouraging than she's already been with him.

Someone appeared from behind and walked past the two and leaned against the door frame. The two cats outside the forgery looked surprised to see it was the drifter again.

He chuckled looking at the lion working. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You may be content to flop around, feeling sorry for yourself, but I'm not!" Lion-O answered, still pounding away at the heated metal, "I'll make one hundred more swords if I have to! I'm going to defeat him!"

"Not that I care..." The drifter began. "But you're doing it all wrong, you need to-"

"Thanks, but I can handle it." Lion-O interrupted stubbornly. The grin on the drifter's face grew as he watched the young lion committed to make a sword of his own. Pumyra found herself smiling while watching the King working, it reminded her the advice King Claudus gave her long ago about turning stubbornness into tenacity and seeing it from his own son made her feel proud somehow.

"You don't give up easily, do you?" The drifter asked, he walked in and grabbed one of the tools, then came over to where Lion-O was working, "Here, let me show you." He clamped the tool down on the unheated metal while holding it still with tweezers, unlike Lion-O, showing him that the metal had to be hold still so it didn't move while forging it. Only a second later the drifter guided him out where his friends stood and shut the door behind them so he could work privately.

Lion-O and Pumyra shared a glance, both of them silently questioning the other. Neither of them knew what to say, all they could do was wait.

A half hour later, the young King was pacing impatiently outside the forgery. He opened the door and looked inside to see the drifter was still working. "Done yet?" He asked, the rabbit paused in his work to look over his shoulder at him.

"No."

Lion-O shut the door, letting him continue to work. He sighed and looked over at where his female friend was sitting, leaning against another abandoned building trying to take a nap under the sun like Snarf was. He came over and sat down beside her.

Pumyra only reacted sensing his body too close to hers and turned surprised at him.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked a little awkward. She then relaxed and let her head down again, closing her eyes trying to ignore him so close to her.

The lion watched Snarf napping comfortably in front of them and felt like closing his eyes, and then he turned and glanced at the puma, supposedly asleep, and couldn't help to stare at her. So peaceful and quiet, she almost looked mesmerizing; embracing her knees close to her neck, with her face resting smoothly in her arms. Lion-O felt something else besides the sun warming his face…

After another half hour later, The young King got up from where he had been _trying_ to nap and went over to the forgery, he opened the door and saw the rabbit was still working.

"How about now?" He asked.

"No!" The drifter griped, the cat closed the door and walked back over to his friends pouting.

Pumyra's lashes fluttered open seeing the lion coming back from the forgery, this time he didn't stop to sit next to her and kept walking. Turning to the building the puma girl noticed the smoke still coming out of the chimney while Snarf was snorting contently in his sleep.

After another hour, she saw Lion-O coming back from his walk heading to the forgery again and stood in front of the door without open it. "How much longer?" He asked from outside. "Is it ready?"

The pounding sound stopped. "_No!_" The drifter snapped, opening the door, then slamming it shut. Lion-O sighed; glancing back at his friends and sat down by the door, still waiting. The brown-haired female let out a sigh too.

Finally, after another hour, the doors to the forgery opened and the drifter looked down at Lion-O, "It is done. That is, if you still want it." The cat got up and went in to see what the sword looked like.

He picked it up and marveled at its lightness. The blade, while thin, had enough sharpness in it to slice through anything as easily as it would a leaf.

"It's perfect." He said and swung the sword a couple of times, getting used to its weight, "He doesn't stand a chance." He rested the blade on his shoulder and walked out of the forgery along with Pumyra and Snarf.

"Lion-O." The rabbit called out getting his attention. "Remember what I told you, willows are weak, and yet-"

"They bind other wood." Lion-O finished. "Yeah, I know, I know." He waved to him as he walked away.

"Those words again…" The puma muttered while walking away from there. "What does that suppose to mean?" Still frustrated for not getting the drifter's words.

"Don't know." Lion-O said grinning walking one step ahead of her. "But I better find out soon."

"And do you know where that duelist is now?" She asked.

"Yeah, I saw him sitting on a restaurant when I took that walk minutes ago." And so they headed to the restaurant.

They spotted him showing off his ability with the blade by cutting up lemon slices and having them shoot out into his, and a couple other customers' teacups. As he shot out another one, Lion-O's blade cut the slice into four pieces in the air.

The duelist looked up at him and the young King held out the blade to his face. "You might recognize the craftsmanship."

"Impossible. It's a fake." The duelist said confidently. "He hasn't made a sword in years."

"I came out of retirement." The drifter showed up, coming through the doors of the restaurant, standing next to the puma, grinning at the duelist. "I didn't have much else to do today, anyway." The duelist glared at him.

"I challenge you to a rematch." Lion-O stated. "But this time, for _all_ your swords."

"That's quite a request from someone who only has a single sword to offer in return." The duelist pointed. "In addition to your blade, you must also put up your life."

Snarf gasped and whimpered his master not to accept, waving his head. Pumyra looked shocked at the duelist knowing what he was capable of and looked back at her King worried about to tell him to resign too but he spoke before she had the change.

"Deal."

Both swordsmen met in the town square again, only this time, it looked like every warrior in town gathered to see the fight. The cats and the rabbit watched among the crowd expectantly. The drifter leaned relaxing against a wall glancing over the female cat, arms crossed over her chest and a stiff hand resting on her arm. By her corporal language he told she was nervous and so was he. The fact the duelist readied his posture with two blades against Lion-O's single blade was discouraging enough.

The crowd cheered excited seeing the first person to ever challenge the duelist to a duel. The battle began with both contenders charging at each other, they met the other's sword with a loud clang. The purple skinned man started swiping at the lion, he blocked the blows showing more skill than before but stepping back a bit with each strike. The duelist gave a particularly hard blow downwards making the sword almost fall out of Lion-O's hands, then he brought his sword up to try and cut the lion, but he barely avoided the attack by leaning back still falling to the ground. His opponent attempted to stab him from above but he rolled out the way, and supporting his body in one hand quickly got back on his feet and regained his assault on the duelist. The crowd watched, mesmerized cheering for the Lord of the Thundercats now. Lion-O ran at the duelist again, connecting their blades for a moment, then they both jumped back, panting of exhaustion.

"You can't beat me." The duelist warned with a smirk.

Lion-O panted again and mirrored his smirk. "Then why do you look so scared?"

The swordsman scowled and held out both his swords, jabbing them both in multiple directions at incredible speed, Lion-O charged forward and their blades connected again, with his sword between the two of the duelist. Their blades quivered with the strength they inflicted into them, and ended breaking Lion-O's sword in two.

"No!" They didn't hear Pumyra's gasp from the crowd as the upper part of the blade plunged into the floor.

Lion-O backed away from the man, who grinned maliciously. "The sword is lost, and victory is still mine." He said, stepping towards to get his prize while the lion continued backing away.

Pumyra was about to jump in there and stop him, when the drifter reacted first and stopped her by shouting to the lion. "Willows are weak, Lion-O!" The puma looked at him questioningly hearing those words again and then it hit her.

And so it did Lion-O as his eyes widened when he understood what the drifter's advice was. The duelist's sword came at him, and he dodged the strike. The swordsman grunted and tried to strike him again and again, but Lion-O calmly avoided each one helping himself with the wind coming from the blade's speed. Just when one was about to get to his target Lion-O performed a somersault over the duelist's head.

"I understand now." He said from behind him. The man stiffed and looked back at Lion-O, jabbing his sword at him in many different directions. His friends watched amazed as he avoided every blow with ease, the puma turned for a second eyeing the drifter as she also deciphered his words. The rabbit returned the gaze and smirked. They both looked back to the battle field at the voice of Lion-O. "Power alone is rigid." He bent back sidestepping another blow. "But if you can bend with the wind..." He got back up and the duelist stroke at him again. "You'll never break!" Lion-O used his broken sword and knocked the Sword of Hatanzou from his grip. The duelist stared astonished at where the sword landed; Lion-O took his distraction and knocked the other blade from his other hand as well and in a swift motion cut the scabbard tied to his back letting it fall on the ground. The duelist looked shocked at the lion, who held the broken sword to his face, and knelt down acknowledging his defeat.

The crowd was silent for a moment, then broke into cheers. The Lord of the Thundercats looked over at the crowd and spotted Snarf squealing contently at Pumyra's feet then looked up at her and saw her applauding him with a smile and next to her the drifter, lifting himself from the wall and smiled at him as he walked into the arena to meet him.

"You knew that sword would break." Lion-O said, coming over to him.

"It took me _years_ to make the Sword of Hatanzou," The Drifter said with a grin. "I made that piece of junk in an _afternoon_."

Lion-O looked up and saw Pumyra and Snarf coming behind the rabbit. The drifter poked the King's chest. "You already had what you needed to win in _here_." Lion-O returned his smile.

As they spoke, neither of them noticed the duelist getting up and pulling a knife out of his pocket. The drifter noted him running towards Lion-O with the knife and pushed the cat out of the way, he blocked the duelist's attack with the reed he kept in his mouth by wielding it like a sword, swinging it at the man making him back away until he fell to the ground over his behind.

"You had your last duel, if I were you I would think of another name to call yourself. Now, begone!" And everyone watched the duelist running out of the square.

"_Now_ I can take him seriously." Lion-O turned to see Pumyra, who just said that, and both grinned at each other.

The drifter picked up the duelist's scabbard returning the Sword of Omens to its rightful owner, and followed him and his friends back to the forgery, where they left their supplies, before exiting the swordsmen town.

They all stood at the entrance and looking at the horizon they saw something big coming their way. "It's the Thundertank!" Lion-O mused.

"It is sunset, after all." The puma said recalling they arrived there almost first in the morning.

"Well, I should leave now, friends." The rabbit said smiling.

"With that weight you now carry, you certainly won't blow away anymore." Pumyra pointed at the shield with all the swords in his back.

"Well, sometimes, having a weight in your shoulders…A purpose to fulfill is vital." The drifter told her and turned to Lion-O. "Thanks to you I feel alive again." And they saw Cheetara coming out of the rear, escorting the two Third Earthling out of Thundertank.

Lion-O knew it was time to say goodbye and said. "I should thank you, Hatanzou…for everything." The lion smiled back. The drifter also smiled at the sound of his name, which he decided it was time to use again.

"No, thank the lady here." The rabbit said addressing the puma next to the lion. "She was right too. "It's not because of the sword, that the King has his crown…or the lion his mane." The drifter winked mischievously. "And for the record, I did spy on you two." Then Hatanzou stepped forward and talked to Pumyra. "I don't know much about royalty, but you will make a good Queen someday."

His comment left both cats bemused. And a bit of red on the lion's cheek. Once they reacted, the two replied in a mildly voice. "We're not a couple."

"The rabbit's brows jumped slightly. "Well, certainly you two fight like you were." He paused smiling. "And you both are quite fond of one another too." He finished almost with a laugh.

"Master Hatanzou?" The yellow-skinned man recognized the sword maker who forged the sword he lost a long time ago.

"You two know each other?" The cheetah behind him asked before acknowledging her friends.

"Ah yes, about my new purpose, Lion-O…" The drifter said. "I'm starting right now." He pulled a sword out of the scabbard and handed it to the man.

"Thank you." The man said. "Thank all of you." Turning to the young cleric beside him. Hatanzou petted the boy's head and parted toward the horizon as father and son walked into the town after saying goodbye to their feline friends.

"I bet you two have quite a story to tell us." Cheetara smirked at the two of them.

Lion-O and Pumyra looked at each other and back at her. "Something like that." The young King grinned sheepishly.

"Lion-O!" They all snapped around and saw Panthro storming out of the tank. "What in the name of Thundera took you so blasted long?!" He walked up to them, not waiting for his answer he stole the bag with the supplies from his hands and walked back into the tank along with Cheetara and Snarf who ran quickly getting inside first.

Lion-O stood there silently for a moment, then he saw Pumyra beginning to walk behind the others when he stopped her by grabbing her hand. Both felt their hearts skip a beat like they have been through that before.

Pumyra looked back expectantly. "Thank you for crossing the line." Lion-O said.

"Excuse me?" The puma girl arched a questioning brow at him.

"Ever since we've met, you've been treating me like I was- Well, your _King. _More out of the others_…" _He told her.

"But you are." Pumyra interrupted him.

"I'm not saying I'm not but, I've been trying to cross that line for some time now and-" He continued stumbling into his own words. "What I'm trying to say is…Before your King, I want to be your friend. I _am _your friend, Pumyra." He paused and both noted he was still holding her hand untill he finally let go.

At this point, and after all they've been through, Pumyra found it very hard defining Lion-O. He was like no other cat she's met before. She thought of him as her King, but felt about him a little differently, she felt _more_ for him than just duty. When she made herself think there could be no relationship between them, there he was openly offering friendship. She found it pretty charming and considered, giving in a bit wouldn't hurt.

The two of them walked back to the Thundertank, side by side.

.

So Lion-O and Pumyra are stepping forward in their relationship, good for them. Like Cheetara once said: "slow and steady win the race". But they still have a long way to go…

Sorry for the delay again, I've been trying to speed things up but it's been quite the opposite X( This last weeks has been a bit stressful. I hope that'll change sometime soon. Read you next time!

R&R


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